Robotics teams thrive at regional

The three-day throng of tech-inclined high school students called the Duluth Regionals in robotics didn't disappoint last weekend as 111 teams from Minnesota and neighboring states took over the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.

There were four Carlton County teams in the competition, from Cloquet, Esko, Barnum and Moose Lake. Esko came away with the biggest honors: a run in the playoffs, a top award for innovation in controlling its robot, and a sure place in the state tournament.

Spectators at the popular event were encouraged to not come because of waning but continuing Covid-19 concerns. As teams piled into the pits and took to practice runs on Thursday, members wearing required masks were visibly giddy to be back in person at one of the premier events of the FIRST robotics program.

It wasn't easy for Esko, which managed to go 6-3 in the qualifying rounds of the Lake Superior Regional to earn a spot in the Saturday playoffs, when teams from different schools pair up depending on how well they do in the qualifying rounds.

"What spectators in the stands at competition often aren't aware of is the tremendous pressure that the pit crews are under before and after their robot takes the field," the media member of SubZero reported. "When everything is working beautifully we have no way of knowing if the moments leading up to what we see on the field were calm for the pit crew or fraught with problem-solving moments under a huge time crunch."

In the playoffs Saturday, "it became quickly evident that something was wrong with our shooter, amongst a few other things."

Each year, teams are given a common robot to design. In the arena this season, they scooped up red or blue balls and shot them into a large target, from a designated spot depending on the color of the ball. It's intense, and the controllers' faces show it.

For Esko on Saturday, there was a quick turnaround to the next match, and the team had to hustle to figure out the faulty mechanics. Soon, the pit crew "had the robot back up and running even better than it was on Friday. Just in the nick of time."

SubZero went 3-2 in the playoffs, losing on a tiebreaker in the semifinals. Esko ended up seventh out of the 58 teams in the competition.

The disappointment didn't last long as the team received an Innovation in Control Award, which denotes "innovative control system or application of control components – electrical, mechanical or software – to provide unique machine functions."

The team is ranked ninth in the state and is the top competitor in Section 7, meaning it will go to the state tournament in May.

• The Bombatrons from Barnum started out on fire Friday, going 6-1 in the qualifying rounds. They ended up 6-3 after matches on Saturday and just missed the playoffs after suffering a few "complications." Barnum ended up 19th out of the 58 teams.

• Cloquet's RipSaw team was exhausted as they loaded up their gear on Saturday afternoon. It finished 30th in the regional with a 4-5 record in the qualifying rounds. Team members said they had a good time despite not making the playoffs. The team did walk away with an Imagery Award, which goes to teams that display "attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance."

It had been a long four days for the team, which got a big sendoff on Wednesday in front of an enthusiastic crowd of elementary students.

• The team from Moose Lake, the Circuit Breakers, was the only county team in the Northern Lights Regional and finished 37th out of 53 teams with a 3-6 record in the qualifying rounds.