The Redwood Valley High School WingNuts robotics team was part of the championship alliance at the Lake Superior Regional FIRST Robotics Competition in Duluth March 4-7. They had seven weeks to design, build, and program a robot for this specific competition, in which the robots needed to gather balls and launch them into hubs to collect the most points. Their performance in the Qualification Matches earned them a spot as one of three teams on the top-ranked alliance that went 5-1 in the playoffs to capture the coveted championship Blue Banner.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competitions consist of matches between two alliances. In the qualifying round, alliances and competitors are randomly assigned and changed with every match. Based on each alliance’s scoring and objective-completing ability in the match, a winner is determined and ranking points are awarded to each team in the alliance. The WingNuts had a record of 8-9 in the Qualification Matches, earning them a ranking of 36 out of 42 teams.
Only 26 teams moved on to the Playoff Matches. Typically in sporting events, playoff seeding is determined by ranking. However, in FIRST competitions, the top eight ranked teams advance to the playoffs and then select any two teams to join their alliance. The number-one ranked team—Mendota Heights—got the first pick in the selection process and chose Dassel-Cokato. Similar to a snake draft, because they got the first pick of Round 1, their second pick was the final selection of Round 2. With that pick, they selected the WingNuts.
Todd Steve, lead mentor for the WingNuts and RVHS science teacher, said, “The captains of [Mendota Heights and Dassel-Cokato] told me that they really were hoping we didn't get selected before their pick. They told me that we were chosen because we were a robust robot with a good drive team that would be capable of defending the best scoring teams in the playoffs, but the main reason we were selected is because of our autonomous scoring. Our programming team had dialed in a consistent eight-point autonomous period that many teams were not able to do.” In the first 20 seconds of each match, the robots had to run autonomously, meaning they operated on pre-programmed instructions. After that period, robots were allowed to be remotely driven by team members.
In the Playoff Matches, the WingNuts’ alliance won their first three matches (247-108, 304-84, 230-138) to secure the shortest-possible path to the Finals. The Finals were a best-of-three competition versus the second-ranked alliance, captained by Perham and joined by teams from Fairmont, Minneapolis, and Saint Paul (as an alternate team). The WingNuts’ alliance lost the first match 168-178, due to a late penalty being called on them. They rallied to capture the championship by winning the second match 195-167 and the deciding match 186-148.
Blue Banner in hand. The Redwood Valley WingNuts celebrate their regional championship in Duluth with coaches and mentors by their side. Photo courtesy: Todd Steve
Redwood Valley High School started a robotics program in the 2012-2013 school year. In that time, the WingNuts have reached regional semifinals twice, but never the finals. While there is hope that they earned enough points to be invited to another competition later this spring, they will have to wait for more regional results to find out if they will advance. This year’s team has 17 students and is coached by Steve and RVHS industrial tech teacher Marshall Hegg.
Steve acknowledged that the WingNuts would not be able to participate in competitions without an abundance of community support. “I just would like to thank our local sponsors who provide both financial and material support to our team: Daktronics, Altimate Medical, Clayton-Redwood Falls, Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, and the Redwood Area Education Foundation. I'd also like to thank our volunteer mentors who give countless hours providing guidance to the students throughout the season. Our volunteers this season were Chad Johnson, Shawn Manee, Danielle Raden, Rick Raden, Corey Diekmann, Kyle Day, Veronica Skinner, and David Schon.”