The Becker High School Robotics Team is nearing the end of the hectic “build season” with their 2015 competition robot. In addition to having the primary robot nearly ready, the team had also built and operated a practice robot to test the systems and mechanicals needed to take part in the regional and state robotics competition next month, reports Coach Alex Jurek.
The team, which does business as the “Coalition of Independent Students #4607” in FIRST Robotics® competition, has around 60 members and a full complement of adult mentors and recent BHS graduates in their competition arsenal, as well as fully-developed marketing, research and recruiting teams to support the build and drive team operations.
The new robot contains three separate drive systems, Jurek said, which will allow it to complete the competition tasks required in the 2015 tournaments, which will include picking up and stacking plastic storage boxes and other materials more efficiently that opposing teams. All robots are complicated, Jurek said, but the 2015 version has added a new level of challenges to the team.
All work on the competition robot must cease as of midnight Tuesday, Jurek said, and the machine is then placed in a heavy plastic cover with official seals attached that cannot be opened until the team and the machine are on the floor at the regional competition at the U. of M. in March.
