The Digital Dislocators season comes to an end with excitement for next year!

submitted by Caiden Kippnick and Luke Somerville, The Digital Dislocators

After an abrupt cut to our 2020 season due to the pandemic and a slow, almost nonexistent 2021 season that consisted of no competitions, team #6081 was excited and ready for this year.

This year’s game, Rapid React, required us to design and build a robot that would be able to shoot balls into a high goal and a low goal at the center of the playing field. Teams are randomly paired with two other robots to form an “alliance.” Each match begins with a 15-second autonomous period, where robots are allowed to score points using only pre-programmed instructions. The robot‘s drivers are allowed to pick up their controllers once the autonomous period of the game ends. Robots can climb a series of rungs located near the corners of the playing field to score more points at the end of the game. The higher the robot climbs, the more points you score.

Our first competition, at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, ended better than we anticipated. The team went 8–4 and was a captain of the #4 seeded alliance. While the team didn’t make it past the quarterfinals, we won an award known as the Team Spirit Award, which merits recognition for determination and perseverance through unexpected challenges a team may face.

Before our next competition, the team made some improvements to our robot. We added a rotating turret with a limelight and improved our climber. The limelight allowed us to program measurements and help aim the balls at the high goal. We also improved our code. Our lead programmer, Logan Kippnick, created an algebraic equation to calculate the amount of power our shooter needed to use to score from almost any distance on the field. The improved climber also allowed our team to climb quicker than before, allowing us to grab onto the second rung, five feet high, in fewer than 10 seconds.

At our next competition, in Woodhaven, the team went 8–4 again after some bad luck on the second day of the match. However, we were the first pick of the #4 seeded alliance. And while we didn’t make it past the quarterfinals again, the judges at the competition were quick to notice the professional approach we took to designing our robot. As a result, we were given the Excellence in Engineering award, one of the most prestigious awards teams can win at a FIRST® competition, one that our low-resource team never thought we would have a chance of receiving.

After our second competition, we were met with the exciting news that our team had earned a spot at the state championship at Saginaw Valley State University. This was the first time our team had been eligible to compete in the state competition. Out of the nearly 500 current FIRST® Robotics Competition teams in the State of Michigan, approximately the top 160 compete to determine which advance to the World Championship in Houston. The first day of the state competition went surprisingly well for the team. However, the second day was plagued with issues. We ended the competition in 33rd place in our division. Our season came to a close at the state championship. The team and mentors volunteered to spend most of the last day helping tear down the competition and practice fields. In return, we secured at least $1,500 of competition carpet for our future practice field that will help drivers and programmers with accuracy.

While this season was full of highs and lows, team #6081 can’t wait for what next year will bring. Our largest fundraiser of the year, Run Manchester, is a great way to support STEM efforts in our community. Registration for the 5K, 10K, 10 miler, and half marathon is open now! Sign up or donate at https://runsignup.com/runmanchester.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.