The Becker robotics FRC team (4607 C.I.S.) is currently busy pulling together several teams to build their competition robot by the middle of February. But it’s not all about guys and gals with wrenches and welding tools. There is so much more that goes into having a robotics team at the high school level.

 

A Theme And A Game

 

As stated in last week’s Part I article, some members of the Becker Robotics team traveled to Buffalo H.S. to watch a live kick-off video that explains to the teams what the “game” is for the season and what each robot needs to do to be successful.

 

“The theme this year is ‘First Stronghold’ so it’s got a  medieval subject matter,” said Robotics team member Kelsi Halvorson. “We have to design our robot to have a lot of components and it has to be able to go over obstacles, throw balls (boulders) and climb. It’s providing us with a lot of challenges this year.”

 

The arena the robots will battle in will have a medieval appearance with castles being the centerpoint of where the robots will score their points.

 

“We’ll get points for going through their obstacles and they’ll get points for going through ours,” said Halvorson. “So our goal is to stop them from advancing through our obstacles while we throw balls into their castles for points.”

 

The balls can either enter the castle on the floor, by having the ball pushed into a hole at the base, or the ball needs to be tossed through the air to enter the top of the castle, seven-feet or so high in the air.

 

The first step for the robotics team is to come up with a strategy. That’s where certain team members prototype all of their components for the game and figure out the best way to accomplish their goals.

 

“Once we get that going, we’ll get our manipulators to interact with the game which includes making the robot into a ‘shooting’ robot and a ‘breeching’ robot,” said Co-Captain Sam Somrock.

 

A shooting robot is just what it says. Being able to pick up and fling an obstacle (ball) into one or more of the goals on the other team’s side.

 

A breeching robot means the robot would have the capabilities of breeching the opponent’s defense obstacles.

 

“This year’s game is so complex. We have a really big challenge ahead of us,” said Somrock.

 

There are eight different defenses that can be combined in 10,000+ configurations, Somrock said. “We also had 111 pages of rules we had to pour over.”

 

The robotics team has several different departments within the team that include the build team, the strategy team, the safety team, communications, marketing, switches, shop management, programming and electrical. Each person on the team interacts with other areas on the team to pull the entire project together.

 

“Each of those departments work on specific things,” said Co-Captain Kami Ziebarth. “Such as the build, electrical and programming work together as what we call a technical team.”

 

 

Ziebarth says the communications, business and marketing departments each have their own tasks which include garnering sponsorships, updating the website, and promoting the team. 

 

“There’s also a drive team,” said Strategy Squad Member Joel Wilson. “That team controls the robot.”

 

And that includes a driver, an operator, a drive coach and a human player.

 

“The human player is someone who can interact with the balls (boulders) such as rolling them into the game or tossing them at the robots,” Wilson said.

 

“The drive coach is tasked to tell the driver and operator where they should go on the floor,” said Somrock. “They may see something the driver or operator aren’t focused on and can get the robot where it needs to go.”

 

Wilson says the driver and operator focus mainly on the robot itself and not its surroundings. From there, the drive coach tells them to do a specific task or go to another area if progress isn’t being achieved or strategies not being met.

 

Before the contests and after the build, the robot gets “bag-and-tagged” meaning the robot gets out in a giant plastic bag and zip-tied to ensure it doesn’t get altered leading up to a match.

 

Each match the team’s participate in are 2:30 long and traditionally have three teams on one side battling three teams on the other. They compete against each other to score the most points in those two-and-a-half minutes.

 

“The first 15 seconds of the match is when the programmer moves the robot on their own without interjection from the driver or drive coach,” said Somrock. “During the last 2:15, that’s when the teams are trying to shoot balls into the high goals and cross as many defenses as they can as well as climb something at the end of the match.”

 

The Becker robotics team typically names their robot each year but so far, no name has been used for 2016. The first year the school participated in robotics, they named their robot Peanut. The second year it was called Gumdrop and last year it was called Darth Convader.

 

The robot can weigh no more than 120-lbs. and cannot be taller than 4’ 6” (except in the final 20 seconds of the match where the robot is directed to climb and obstacle). The perimeter of the robot cannot exceed 120 inches, except after the match starts and an extension can only amount to another 15 inches.

 

The Becker team will participate in two regionals, mostly because they have such a plethora of mentors and sponsors who contribute their finances and time to make the team the very best they can be.

 

The first regional the team will be participating in is in Duluth at the Northern Lights Regional, March 2-5 at DECC Arena. The second regional will be April 6-9 at Mariucci Arena for the Minnesota North Star Regional.

 

Last year’s team didn’t fare so well in the contests it participated in but the members of the team did come home with a Spirit Award for their enthusiastic cheering at the matches and their great sportsmanship.

 

The first Becker Robotics team was formed in March of 2012 when assistant principal, Mark Kolbinger, and Technology Education Teacher, Alex Jurek, took eight students down to FIRST’s NorthStar Regional. There, the students were able to experience a FRC competition firsthand before the official recruitment commenced for the inaugural team. 

 

In their first season, 24 students attended the North Star Regional with their robot, Peanut. That year, the team won the North Star Regional, the Rookie All-Star Award, the MSHSL Robotics Tournament, and was a qualifier for the World’s Competition.