By Susana Kuehne Contributing Writer

 

 

Each year follows the same routine. Registration begins in November; a training event happens in December, and the kick-off for the season is typically in January.

 

The way that the students compete is by building a robot that can accomplish all the tasks set forth by the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics League game. Each year, a game is sent out and schools build their robot based on the elements of the game in order to increase their chances of scoring the most points at events. A manual of the rules is also released. This year, Pitchfork, the Becker robot, was created after two weeks of CAD modeling and analysis. 

 

Pitchfork has a 12.75:1 gear ratio and travels about 11 feet per second. It weighs 120 lbs. and has dimensions of 39” (length) by 34” (width) by 14” (height). The arm can reach up to 40” fully extended. In the game field (competition), it can pick up and stack 15 cubes per match, even though the average robot can only do 5.

 

The team says they do not anticipate making any major changes to Pitchfork since it performed well at Worlds and does not really need any tweaks. 

 

Ben Fischbach (11th grade) said, “Most of the revisions to the robot would have happened during Week Zero, which is a time period before regional events start. Week Zero is somewhat of a prep run to help teams get kinks out of their robot and evaluate where they stand.”

 

Luckily, there are many mentors involved in the Becker Robotics team throughout the year, and they garner their combined expertise to assist the students in developing their best robot. These mentors are mostly parents of students in the club and work at places like Xcel, LPI, Darter Plastics, the Sherco Plant, and more. A total of 31 sponsors stand by the team.

 

Coach Alex Jurek is proud of his students and as the state tournament approaches, he reminisces on how this club has impacted his students. 

 

"As we prep for our fifth State Tournament, I look back at all of the great students that we have had that made this team what it is today.  Some of these kids are now in their military careers with the Navy, Air Force, and Army, working with 3M, State Farm, Xcel, and studying at NDSU, Minnesota, UMD, UW-Madison, UW-River Falls, SCSU, South Dakota State, Coe, and many others.  All of them have made their mark on 4607.  Who would have thought that six years ago as a rag-tag bunch of kids went to the Minneapolis Regionals ended up creating the one of the most influential teams in the Midwest?" stated Jurek.