The CCHS Ice Storm robotics team will get some help this year from the Duluth East Daredevil team. Above, Tate Crawford works on the Ice Storm robot at last year’s regional competition held in Duluth.
In team sports, say football, for example, it’s always best to leave your opponent guessing about your strategy, who is injured, or who may miss the next game for one reason or the other. In robotics, the competitions are as fierce as any sport, but it’s not unusual to see your opponents helping you when you have trouble with your robot.
It’s not that the other teams don’t want to beat your brains out, they do. They just want it to be on a level playing field when they win—or lose.
So it didn’t come as a great surprise when the Duluth East Daredevil team reached out to the Cook County Ice Storm following last year’s regional competition where Ice Strom finished at the back of a very large pack of teams.
This year the Daredevils have agreed to assist District 166’s team, Ice Storm, to get ready for the 2019 regional competition. The Daredevils’ coach, Timothy Velner, will give an audiovisual presentation at 4 p.m., Tuesday, September 18 at the school. Attending the presentation will be Ice Storm’s coach, Tom Nelson, current and prospective team members as well as volunteers and interested others who have been invited to Velner’s presentation.
Over the years the Daredevils have assisted many Minnesota and other school teams. Last spring, the Daredevils skyped with Swedish students that helped them prepare for the travel and their ultimately successful competition in Midwest USA Regional.
At the Midwest Regional Velner received the “Chairman’s Award” for his efforts to help other teams. He was selected from over 200 coaches for the award.
This year the Daredevils will focus on helping Ice Storm with coding and clear channel communications.
While bigger schools tend to have more resources, I.S.D. 166 has a state-of-the-art shop that has four 3D printers necessary for the production of specific robotic components, as well as metal fabricating, welding, and machine shop tools that the kids work with when building their robot.
Three years ago Ice Storm finished in the top 10 at the regional competition and narrowly missed winning a trip to nationals. With a little help from their Daredevil friends from Duluth East, who knows, this might the year the Ice Storm climb that ladder and make it to the big show.
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