This year, the FIRST Robotics Competition arena features structures with a spot to shoot a ball and a spot to place a ball. Inside the shooting target is a second, smaller target for extra points. There is also a color wheel the robot can align to the right color for points, and a scale that the robot can climb for extra points. Hutchinson’s robot was designed to be able to tackle that extra challenge.
Members of the Tigerbots built a “junkyard” robot that took second place.
The action was fierce this past weekend at the 2020 Northern Lights FIRST Robotics Competition in Duluth. But Hutchinson battled its way to the semifinals with an 8-7 record, falling just short of the final tier of competition.
"The Hutchinson robotics students represented the school and town well with their attitude, work ethic and gracious professionalism during their time in Duluth," said Kyle Schroeder, one of the team's coaches. "
The 33-member Tigerbots and their eight mentors knew going into the tournament that their competitors would be tougher this year, but so were they. Teams ordinarily bag their robots in February, and some — including the Tigerbots — continue to iterate and plan by using a second model. But this year, every team was allowed to work on its robot without interruption.
The arena this season includes structures with a spot to shoot a ball and a spot to place a ball. Inside the shooting target is a second, smaller target for extra points. There is also a color wheel the robot can align to the right color for points, and a scale that the robot can climb for extra points. Hutchinson's robot was designed to be able to tackle that extra challenge.
"With the support of the businesses in Hutchinson we have been able to build an awesome robot," Schroeder said.
A portion of the team arrived in Duluth this past Wednesday for practice matches and inspection early Thursday. The robot weighed in at 118 pounds, which was 7 pounds less than the limit. The rest of the team arrived Thursday evening for competition, which began 9 a.m. Friday against 58 other teams.
The Tigerbots finished nine 2 1/2-minute matches against random robots to earn ranking points.
"It started off slow ... as we lost our first two tightly contested matches, but the robot was performing well," Schroeder said. "Between each match, the team would take their robot back to their pit to make adjustments and slight modifications to improve their performance. During these breaks, one group of students grabs wrenches, zip ties, spare parts and anything they need to patch up the robot."
Teams are grouped into alliances for matches, which meant a portion of the Tigerbots team spent their time strategizing with those allies. Meanwhile, other members of the team are scouting the competition to report on the strengths and weaknesses of others.
"The Tigerbots' endgame strategy of completing a climb, which can only be completed in the final 30 seconds, proved to be vital," Schroeder said. "The Tigerbots completed a climb in the final seven matches and had a teammate climb in six of them."
After the qualifying matches, the top eight teams each selected two other teams to form the final alliances that would compete for the championship. The Tigerbots teamed up with Breck and Totino-Grace. In the quarterfinals, the format changes to the best two out of three.
"With the match tied two games a piece, the Tigerbots alliance won a tightly contested match 139-122," Schroeder said of the quarterfinals. "The play during the championship rounds became much more aggressive and all of the robots were showing damage."
Teams used the time between matches to triage as best they could.
The semifinals went to the third game again, but the Tigerbots lost 168-147. You can watch the match, and others, at thebluealliance.com/team/2509/2020.
In a side competition sponsored by the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, members of the Tigerbots built a "junkyard" robot and took second place. The robots were made out of recycled and on-hand materials and used as directional aids and sign holders at the event.
The Tigerbots will have another chance March 26-28 at the University of Minnesota to compete for a top spot and a place at the World Championship in Detroit.
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