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HARTINGTON - The robots are ready to roll again at Cedar Catholic High School.
The robotics program at the Hartington school is entering its third season, and science instructor Lowell Brown, the primary mentor for both the Cedar Bots and the Junior Cedar Bots, is looking forward to seeing how his students perform for the 2023-24 academic year.
“I am grateful for the assistance of Mr. Ray Weier as the second mentor for the program,” Brown said.
This year’s FIRST Tech Challenge that his high school robotics students - known as the Cedar Bots - will be taking on during their meets is titled “CENTERSTAGE.”
“Hexagonal game pieces will be placed in proper locations and stacked on a vertical game board with different point values depending on the color and arrangement of the game pieces,” Brown said. “The game also requires a lifting of the machine in the final seconds of the game similar to doing a pull-up.”
He noted his students spent about three weeks building the board arrangement and recently have been “preparing machine bases as well as arm and clamp mechanisms to pick up the game pieces and propel paper airplanes as part of the competition.”
Two years ago, Cedar Catholic’s robotics program competed in the Northwest Iowa League of the FIRST Tech Challenge - Iowa organization.
The Cedar Bots competed last year in the same conference, which changed its name at that time to the Magnetic League.
The conference, made up of mostly Iowa teams, changed its name again this year to the Norman Rockwell League.
In addition to Cedar Catholic, the league has two other Nebraska robotics programs - both from Norfolk - out of the overall 13 in the conference this season, as far as Brown could recall.
Cedar Catholic has three regular-season meets scheduled for:
- Nov. 11 in Norfolk.
- Nov. 18 in Sioux City, Iowa. - Dec. 16 in Hinton, Iowa. The league tournament has been set for Jan. 6 in South Sioux City, from which the top three qualifying teams will go to the super regional meet on Feb. 17 in Omaha.
The Cedar Bots have 10 members this year, with the returners consisting of juniors Nicholas Coleman, Christian Fiscus and Brett Stevens.
Stevens noted he has been a part of Cedar Catholic’s robotics program for three years and has enjoyed aspects such as team-building and meeting new people.
“It’s a pretty fun class,” Stevens said. “I really do like the building making your own robot, making it look how you want it to and work.”
The newcomers to the Cedar Bots this season are seniors Gavin Joachimsen and Paul Kleinschmit; junior Braeden Kleinschmit; sophomores Nolan Heimes and Ryan Lammers; and freshmen Jackson Jones and and Will Steffen.
“It’s fun,” said Paul Kleinschmit, who is planning to major in civil engineering at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D., after graduating from high school. “It’ll be a great opportunity for me. This might help with my career.”
He noted he has learned about constructing the robot for the challenge and coding for it.
“I’ve enjoyed building and I’ve enjoyed the teamwork that we’ve had,” Paul Kleinschmit said.
Cedar Catholic’s robotics program has purchased a 3D printer this year thanks to its newest supporter, Grossenburg Implement.
“We have also purchased this year’s game thanks to the donations of our past corporate sponsors,” Brown said. “We have also been blessed to receive continued funding from our generous benefactor, Marilyn Sudbeck, in memoriam.”
Cedar Catholic’s robotics program is a regularly scheduled class that is part of the high school’s curriculum. However, the school’s junior high robotics team is an after-school club.
The returning j unior high members are eighth-graders Braeden Fischer, Levi Fiscus, Kyson Lammers, Jayden Lordemann and Sawyer Nieman, and seventh-grader Braeden Gubbels.
The new participants this year are eighth-graders Kody Bartling and Adelyn Reifenrath; seventh-grader Jeffrey Heine; and sixth-graders Allie Freeman and Sylvie Nieman.
The FIRST Lego League junior high challenge - called “MASTERPIECE” this season - is an entirely different design than the high school competition.
“The Junior Cedar Bots’ challenge revolves around game movements based on the production of a video or completion of a multimedia creation by the students with game pieces based on the idea of filming, taking pictures, making artwork, etc.,” Brown said.
As far as the Cedar Bots’ challenge this season, he noted, as in the past, the construction and engineering of the robotics program’s machines have been “an ongoing challenge.”
“The requirements of this year’s game have added to the complexify of what the teams must accomplish,” Brown said. “However, as with anything, it all takes time, and our past experience has allowed for us to acquire knowledge, understanding and comprehension with greater efficiency.”
Sophomore Ryan Lammers and junior Nicholas Coleman work during Cedar Catholic High School’s robotics class on Nov. 2. The Cedar Bots are getting ready for the 2023-24 season.
Mark Mahoney | Cedar County News
