After a Cinderella first season that saw the Becker team being part of the winning coalitions in both regional and state-level competition, and an invitation to compete in the national contest in St. Louis, MO, team members are well aware that the bar they have set for their sophomore season is a very high one.

 

“We’ll definitely have a target on our back,” said senior Ryan Swanson, as they expect other teams to keep a close eye on the activities in the Becker pit area during the contests.  The team took full advantage of a deep bench of mentors and advisors from local firms like Xcel Energy, Liberty Paper Inc., Darter Plastics and others, almost all of whom have signed on for another season even if their student has already graduated from the Becker program.

 

The rules for the 2014 competition call for two robots and one human player to take the field this year, with the goal of passing and shooting a large, air-filled exercise ball into a goal, with a ground-level score worth one point and a ball into the elevated target worth 10 points.

 

The main robot, which has yet to be formally named, sits in a sealed plastic container in the team’s “War Room” near the shop area at BHS, stored near the all-conquering “Liberty Xcelerator” robot from last season.  The smaller of the 2014 breed, called “Betsy”, sits on the workbench as electronic controls and a plethora of rods, pulleys, electric motors and control units are carefully being installed by the team, under the watchful gaze of mentors like Roger Niday and Coach Alex Jurek.

 

Betsy may well hold the key to success this year, as it will include the catapult needed for the team to pass and shoot the ball in the arena. An electric motor and a threaded arm/metal rod combination will provide tension to the surgical tubing that will fire the projectile as far as 50 feet away.

 

Jurek commented on the quality of the design and workmanship of the new crop of machines, including the smooth welds and neatly bundled wiring harnesses inside the tough 80-20 aluminum frameworks designed to minimize damage in the rough-and-tumble of robot competition.  The gears, welded pipes, braces and frame beams all have an almost “medieval armor” look, and the loud metallic growl from the mechanisms is nothing if not intimidating.

 

“It’s all student-originated, both design and workmanship,” he said, “We’re (coaches and mentors) only here to advise and suggest.”

 

Marketing guru Emily Knudsen said that the team has also benefitted greatly from their experience in fund-raising, team scouting and networking in their first season.  A major topic this week is finalizing a design for the “trading cards” that have proven so useful in working with other teams in the coalition-building phase of the competitions.  Six new cards are on the table at the moment, she said, and a decision will have to be made soon.

 

The team will be hosting a Robotics open house at BHS Tues., March 18, Jurek said, which will include demonstrations of the 2014 robots as far as competition rules allow.  The event will be open to students at 5:30 p.m., and the public demonstrations will begin at 6:30 p.m.