After a lot of hard work and perseverance , the Becker robotics team lost to the #1 alliance team in the semifinal match at Carver last Saturday in the World Championships. 

 

"We did play very well,” said Student Kelsi Halvorson. "We had an incredible weekend and learned so much!” 

 

Following the competition, the team attended the closing ceremony festivities in which a DJ played music, acrobats danced on stage, Will.I.Am made an appearance and a drumline performed for all competitors.

 

“It was such a cool closing ceremony,” said Student Sam Somrock. “I imagine it was like a Las Vegas show! They must have paid lots of money to put that on.”

 

After the fun celebration, the team mounted the bus for the long drive home to Becker.

 

A few weeks ago, the Becker robotics team competed at regionals and — though their robot did not win — they won the prestigious chairman’s award, which automatically qualified the team for state and world championship participation.

 

This is the second time in the four year’s of the robotics team’s existence, the team has made worlds.

 

In order to pay for the trip to Missouri where the world championships were being held April 27-30, the team quickly put together a GoFundMe page and solicited donations to help pay for the nearly 12 hour, 600+ mile road trip south. Fifty students made the trip as well as parents, family members and alumni.

 

The huge entourage left Becker April 27 at 2:54 a.m. and arrived at the Edwards Jones Dome at 3:45 p.m.

 

The Becker team was donning bright orange shirts for the event and Friday, they competed in the qualifying round and ended the round ranked 57th out of 75 teams in their division. Six Hundred to 650 teams from all over the world were invited.

 

After the qualification round, the top eight teams were organized and went through a draft to pull teams into their “alliance”. The Becker robotics team had to sit and wait to see if one of the eight teams would choose them to align with. After the first eight picks, Becker was still one of the teams not chosen, but the members beamed with confidence.

 

“We knew we had one of the best — if not the best — defensive robots in the world, so we figured it was just a matter of time before someone chose us,” said Somrock.

 

“It was super intense,” said Operator Logan Steffen. “They deliberated a really long time."

 

Sure enough, after careful study and consideration, on the first pick of the second round, Team Carver chose Becker and the team members and fans erupted in celebration.

 

The eight-team brackets included Carver, Archimedes, Carson, Curie, Galileo, Hopper, Newton and Tesla.

 

"We were very happy to have been chosen into the #8 alliance with Team 359, Team 503 and Team 228,” said Halvorson.

 

The team went into the third and final day of matches ranked 56th. As a defensive robot, their rank was not expected to be very high, as their “bot" is not designed to score points and breach defenses.

 

Logan Steffen and Owen Houghton were the operators and programmers who squelched many teams from scoring points by bashing into them or extending their long robot arm to block shots. 

 

“We shut three robots completely down,” said Somrock.

 

Two days earlier when they arrived in Missouri, the Becker team also competed for the world chairman’s award and gave their skit and presentation at 11:20 a.m. Friday morning. Following their presentation, the judges spent some time asking the team some unrehearsed questions where the students had to think on their feet to answer as best they could.

 

“We didn’t win the world chairman award but we competed with some teams who have qualified for this award several times,” said Halvorson. “One team has won 12 regional chairman awards.”

 

Coach Alex Jurek was also up for the Woodie Flowers Award but did not take home the world’s coveted prize. No harm, since the team he has been mentoring had nothing but praise for their coach, mentor, friend and inspiration.

 

“He’s the reason I got involved in robotics,” Houghton said of Jurek. “He was my soccer coach and through many talks, he convinced me to join. I’m really glad he did.”

 

“Coach Jurek is so deserving of the award and though he didn’t win it at worlds, he still is a regional Woodie Flowers winner,” said Halvorson.

 

“He’s worked very hard for us and done amazing things in robotics,” said Steffen. “I’ve learned a lot from him.”

 

The team is now preparing for the state tournament May 21 at Mariucci Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Friday, the teams will arrive and load in, set up their pits, register, have their robot inspected, etc. Saturday, the pits open at 7:30 a.m. with opening ceremonies at 8:30 a.m. and qualification rounds starting at 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

 

Following lunch, the qualification rounds will begin at 1:30 p.m.