By Dreadbot reporter Elliot McMichael
“While the team was disappointed by getting knocked out in finals, their solid overall performance and grit was recognized in both the statistics and by the judges. The student-designed mechanical, electrical, and control systems generated incredible scoring and earned the coveted ‘Excellence in Engineering’ award,” said Dr. Sprague, team mentor.
During this event, 39 teams faced off in groups of three to gather as many points as possible: by climbing, throwing, and defending against other robots. After their initial success in Chelsea, the Dreadbots were ready to show off their hard work in Belleville in a FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. “I was impressed by how much our robot had improved from the last competition, especially in less than a week. Our programming and vision teams improved our autonomous paths really well” said Cory Schimelfening, Service and Outreach lead.
The Dreadbots’ robot required many small fixes throughout the event and team members performed checks, tests, and needed maintenance before each match. Despite that, “when fixing the mechanism that moves yellow balls through the robot (the spindexter), grease leaked into the electronics that handle communication through the robot” said Matthew Wheeler. This new failure mode resulted in an inability to shoot during the next match.
Throughout the rest of the competition, the Dreadbots pushed with everything they had, even making it all the way to the semifinals as the second-ranked team. After joining team 3641 (The Flying Toasters from South Lyon) to form the first-place alliance, along with 6618 (WARHBOTS) and 3098 (WaterFord Robotics), the Dreadbots competed under a new wave of pressure.
After dominating early matches, Dexter’s alliance was eventually eliminated by the 3rd alliance after both the Flying Toasters’ and the Dreadbots’ machines partially failed and a backup team failure all happened in the same match.
“The brutality of the field takes its toll on the construction of the robots. We held up well, all said and done, but we can do better.” said Mr. Lindskov, Electrical mentor.
A single tiny yellow wire helps control the robot’s automated shooter, but the cumulative wear disrupted that information and resulted in both aiming and shooting becoming unreliable. The Dreadbots held strong, pushing through even when the game was pushing just as hard against them. They used their engineering skills and team spirit to not only give it their all but also help and cheer for other teams.
Cheering and team spirit plays a vital role at each competition: “if we’re doing bad, and even when we do good; it’s for our drivers to know they have us supporting them,” said Charlotte Folk, Mechanical Subteam. The Dreadbots make a practice of helping out other teams all through competition, and several team members chipped in to help get team 11505 (Kensington Wood Robotics) into fighting shape and then enjoyed cheering them on from the stands.
Facing off with teams from as far away as Gladstone in the upper peninsula, the Dreadbots had a successful competition with an overall record of 13-3-0. “We have improved, the people here have improved, and we had a really good alliance” said Mr. Bryson, Mechanical mentor. This was yet another stepping stone as the Dreadbots prepare for their next competition at the state level.
The Belleville event overall, “was an amazing competition. There were things that kept coming up but the students kept working through them. We worked hard, showed our robot well, and maybe it didn’t end as we liked but it was still an amazing competition and the Excellence in Engineering award displays the work we do.” said Mrs. Bryson, Mentor.
Photo: The Dreadbot drive team celebrating a winning match. Photo by Aodhán O’Neal
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