Twelve members of Ferradermis were able to represent Whitewater High School at the Laser Lights Offseason Robotics Competition at Kettle Moraine Middle School on Saturday, June 29.
Since the team returned from the World Championships in Houston in April, they have been discussing changes and improvements to their robot that would allow them to accomplish one of the scoring feats in the game that few robots could do. They wanted to “trap.” This means that the robot could climb on a chain and reach high enough to push in a trap door and pass through one of the notes (the orange circular game pieces). The robot the team competed with in Houston could do all of that, except its reach was just a few inches short of the trap door. In order to add those few inches of reach, the students worked to increase the height of their elevator and replace the climbing arms with something that could give them just a little more height. That mission was accomplished when the team successfully trapped in the final 10 minutes of work time before they packed and loaded for Laser Lights!
However, with no time to practice, the impact that these changes had on the other previously successful portions of the robot’s scoring mechanisms went unnoticed until the robot was on the field in Kettle Moraine. This led to some tough morning matches with little time to troubleshoot until the lunch break.
The Ferradermis Drive Team took the field with veteran driver Andrew O’Toole serving as Drive Coach and incoming sophomore Preston Miller stepping into the Driver role. They were accompanied onto the field by Operator Kay Mikos, Human Player Erison Dreksler, and Technician Nina Heim. Due to the quick match turnaround with only 14 robots competing, Ferradermis rarely made it back to their pit between matches. Incoming freshman Vivian Harris took on the role of runner, making sure the team had what they needed from the pit, including a fresh battery for each match. Margaret Brown continued her role of videographer, capturing match video to help the drive team analyze their performance, and Programming Subteam Lead Ace Hudec made adjustments to the code when time permitted between matches. Rae Breisath and Carson Miller cheered on the team from the stands and provided feedback on matches.
Some successful afternoon matches left Ferradermis with a 4-5 record in qualifications, ranking 7th overall. CAD Subteam Lead Zoe Olson represented the team during alliance selections when they were invited to be part of the #3 seeded playoff alliance, joining forces with Team 1259 Paradigm Shift from Pewaukee and Team 3596 Rocket Robotics from South Milwaukee.
The alliance went 0-2 in the double elimination playoffs, coming up just short in both matches 63-54 and 50-44.
This event also marked the launch of Ferradermis’ newest sustainability inititiave, Project Preserve. Robotics teams, including Ferradermis, are doing more and more 3D printing of parts, leading to a great deal of filament waste from prototyping, failed prints, and printing supports. Ferradermis has connected with a company that will recycle the clean, sorted PLA, PLA+, and PETG plastic waste and provide recycled spools of filament in return. The team had advertised this project in advance to those attending the event, and Team 930 from Mukwonago dropped off the first contribution, bringing over 10 kilograms of scrap filament! Business Subteam Lead Andrew Zimmermann made the rounds to all of the pits, discussing the program and encouraging teams to participate. At the same time, he was working on behalf of Team 8744 Leviathans from Eau Claire who was not in attendance, trying to recruit additional teams for their new offseason event in August.
Ferradermis continues to have a busy summer ahead, with the 4th of July Parade this week and continued work on a new robot so that the team can put two bots on the field in Mukwonago on July 20 and 21 during the MROC Offseason Competition, giving even more team members a chance to get on the field.
New members and new mentors continue to be welcome over the summer and fall. Those interested should reach out to Laura Masbruch at lmasbruch@wwusd.org.