Ice Storm rules! Some of the members of the Cook County Schools robotics team at their workstation at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. (L-R, front) Nina Woerheide, Adrian Howard-Larsen, John Vander Heiden, Joseph James, David Blackburn, Shae Morawitz, Sarah Carman, Jaden Aubid, Lohnen Vondall. (L-R, back) Caleb Phillips, Coach Daniel Henry, Noah Works, Andy Kern, Bergen Soland, Assistant Coach Tom Nelson. The team finished 6th out of 60 teams at the regional competition.
It was the little “’bot” that could, David versus Goliath, the tortoise versus the hare, an improbable start and a more implausible finish for Cook County High School (CCHS) robotics team, which took the Northern Lights Regional robotics tournament by storm last weekend, nearly sending CCHS’s “Ice Storm” team to nationals. But it almost didn’t happen.
Where to start? Just as the season was about to begin, the high school’s shop teacher resigned for another job. That left the school district in a pinch to fill his shoes and also left the robotics team without its lead mentor. Newly hired Technology Assistant Daniel Henry said he would coach the team, but he also told the kids it would be a learning experience for all of them, as this would be his first foray into robotics.
Luckily Tom Nelson, who heads up the maintenance department at the school, had helped with the program the last couple of years, and he agreed to once again co-lead the program, and, according to Henry, “We couldn’t have done this without him. His help was invaluable to me and the team.”
John Vander Heiden worked on the Ice Storm robot during a break from competition on Saturday, March 5. The team from CCHS took 6th place out of 60 teams at the regional robotics meet.
Meanwhile, the kids had to figure out where their talents and skill fit best. Some welded, some wired, some turned a wrench or programmed the computer running the ’bot, and some learned to drive the machine. All of the kids helped out somewhere.
The kids had six weeks to build their robot before the regional competition at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC), March 3-5.
The first day, March 3, was used to check in and practice on the course, at least that was the plan.
Before the competition judges go over the robots to make sure they comply with prerequisite standards. Unfortunately, said Henry, that’s when the kids ran into an obstacle. “We didn’t understand or interpret the rules correctly when we built our robot and we had to disassemble it and put it back together again before the competition. It took them five hours of non-stop work.
“I never would have dreamed that they could have worked together that well. No one complained. No one was discouraged. I can’t really express how proud I was of their positive attitude. If they couldn’t get the work done in time, we wouldn’t have been able to compete,” said Coach Henry.
The team spent Thursday getting the robot up to specs and passed the judges’ test, but they had missed the entire day dedicated to practice.
The team’s first chance to drive the newly configured robot came in competition, a scary thought, but at least they were able to get to the starting line to form alliances with two other teams.
Each group of three teams tries to beat another trio in three-minute contests. Some robots were best at gathering and shooting balls into targets at either end of the field, while others were good at climbing the fortress wall, around or over barriers, or, in the case of Ice Storm’s ‘bot, which had to be reprogrammed, good at playing defense. Points are awarded for a variety of things including goals scored and climbing the wall at the end of the 3-minute period.
On Friday, Ice Storm’s alliance won its first match, then its second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth matches. In between contests all of the kids worked on the ‘bot. During matches Bergen Soland operated the controls and drove the ‘bot.
As the day went on and excitement built, it became obvious that Ice Storm was on a mission.
The next day was quarterfinals and finals. Ice Storm got to skip the quarterfinals because they had already qualified, meaning they would be one of the 24 teams competing to go to St. Louis. They were in the driver’s seat because now it was their turn to pick the two teams who would partner with them.
“Isak Terrill had scouted teams and he picked the two who competed with us,” said Henry. “Unfortunately in the finals one of the team’s robot failed to work, so we were beaten. The next competition we were allowed to pick another team to join us, but their robot also had trouble.
“We ended up with an 8-2 record and sixth place out of 60 teams. I have to say I was very proud of our team. It’s the best place Cook County has ever achieved and we won the Judges Award.
“They saw what the team had gone through and how well they dealt with problems and then how well they performed in the competition. None of it was lost on them at all, and for that we were selected for the award.”
Normally robotics ends following the regional meet, but this year the kids are taking a week off and then returning to practice twice a week. They are going to use their talents for service projects to help the school and they are going to work on their robot building skills. “Sixth place is great,” said Henry. “But there’s no reason to believe, if we put in the work, that we can’t place higher next year.”
Teams came from all throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and one squad was from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. There were thousands of fans in the seats, team mascots, banners and flags with team emblems, and non-stop music as the competitions were being held.
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