In past years it’s been about the journey, but this year Powell High School robotics may just make a mark on the international level. 

Once again Powell will be attending the FIRST Championship (formerly known as FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship or Worlds) in Houston with team 3189 (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly), and team 3188 (Squiggle Splat Bang) competing. 

“In the past, I think we were really happy just to go. I think this year we’re really, actually wanting to go to compete,” coach Joel Hayano said of Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly. “We do have a robot that can compete, with their rank, 10th in the world right now, their average scoring is pretty high.”

The team has a “high points volume” in its matches and are able to stay above other teams, member Dexter Opps said.

His brother Calvin, also with Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly, will be attending state for the first time and is excited for the chance to compete, with their high rank on the global scale.

The team is better than it’s  been in past years. They scored above 200 points in every match, Opps said. That’s more than any other team during state robotics in Casper on Feb. 8.

But this year’s success has not come easily for Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly. 

“We put in dozens of hours a week on our robot. So we’re putting in even more time than we ever have before. We’re prioritizing reliability and simplicity in our robot,” Alan Crawford said. “We may be doing complex tasks, but we want to keep the mechanisms themselves, or the programs or whatever, pretty simple, so that you’re kind of eliminating points of failure, so you can prioritize that consistency.”

Before state the team also ran reliability tests, which made them confident in their robot, Opps said. 

All of the Powell teams have put a lot of work into their robots, and that work was on display in January.

Honing success in Powell

Each January, Powell High School robotics hosts the annual Robo Rumble, a large scrimmage event. Teams from across the region come to the friendly event to test their robots and see where they land.

This year the Robo Rumble looked closer to a real meet with a schedule and scoring thanks to a program brought by Jackson Hole’s robotics program.

“We’re the only scrimmage in the spring for Wyoming teams. So after this, it’ll be state tournament, so [we’re] trying to make it as close to like a real tournament as possible,” Hayano said during the event. “So we will judge some teams if they want … when we get to state it will be just like today.”

This year’s Robo Rumble featured 16 teams competing with one more away team attending just for the opportunity to work on their robot. 

During the event, Powell’s team 10541 Duckasaurus Rex, the only all female team in Wyoming, was also working on their robot, essentially rebuilding it ahead of state. 

“We have a working robot, but then we’re, like, this doesn’t work exactly how we want it to, or, like, as good as we want to. So we just scrapped it all and started brand new,” member Kate Miller said while the team worked on making a new claw for state.

While Miller and her team refined their robot, 6437 the Mad Hatters worked to iron out some glitches. 

“There’s wiggling (where the wires) connect, so it’s been causing us to disconnect,” member JJ Gardner said.

State

When the state tournament came around the Mad Hatters were ready. They earned third place in the regular tournament and moved on as an Alliance Captain before being eliminated in the semifinals after taking down their peers Duckasaurus Rex based on the club’s live updates of the event.

All of Powell’s teams performed well in Casper and four were among the top 10 teams in the regular competition, with the fifth within the top 20.

Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly took both the Inspire and Alliance awards, both earning the winning team a ticket to Worlds. Under this year’s new rule the winning team’s partner in the alliance gets the second ticket, said Ethan Cartier, a member of Squiggle Splat Bang.

Like Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly, Squiggle Splat Bang also had a strong performance. The team won the third place Inspire Award, ranked third for Alliance captain and sections  and won all of their preliminary matches, member Mason Coombs said. 

The season started off “a little rusty,” for Squiggle Splat Bang but they were able to change course and make some modifications ahead of state, member Isaac Stensing said. 

Now, ahead of Worlds they have a few more changes in mind. They’re going to change their pivot cap, which essentially means they will no longer use chain to prevent breakage, and they will also have great control over the robot’s arm.

“[We’ll] be more reliable, which you need at Worlds,” Coombs said.

Squiggle Splat Bang was last year’s Worlds qualifier but a still unknown issue prevented the robot from being competitive.

“I’m glad they get to go back, because they really deserve to go back and have a run at it,” Hayano said. 

Fundraising for the future

Ahead of Worlds the robotics program is in fundraising mode, looking to raise between $15,000-16,000 for Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly and Squiggle Splat Bang to attend the competition. The teams will be sending out letters asking for business sponsors, Hayano said, as well as selling tickets for the annual Duck Race for the chance to win a prize valued over $400, over $300 and over $200, although the majority of the Duck Race funds will be going to the whole team. 

The Duck Race will take place at the Powell Aquatic Center, March 6, with ducks on sale for $5, five for $20 or 13 ducks for $50. For more information, visit the Powell High School FTC Robotics Club.