Digital Dislocators perform well in World Competition

All photos courtesy of Scott Somerville and Daniella Kippnick

submitted by Caiden and Daniella Kippnick

It was an incredibly rewarding and exciting season for the Manchester High School Robotics Team #6081, The Digital Dislocators.

First and foremost, the team would like to extend an enormous thank you to all of our sponsors, the school, and the overwhelming generosity from the community supporting us in so many ways this season; we are incredibly grateful for the financial contributions and all of the cheers. With an upgraded drive base, dedicated space at Caife Aspire, random and technical robot parts, hotel rooms, granola bars, and so many basic needs met from sponsors, community, and family, we have accomplished so many things. Our success is a result of each and every one of our supporters!

The 2023 FRC World Championship is an event that everyone involved with the high school robotics team will remember forever. The team was able to compete at the highest level with top teams from all over the world; Australia, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, The Netherlands, Israel, Taiwan, and Suriname to name a few places.

Our robot worked flawlessly throughout the event, with a nearly perfect and high-scoring autonomous program, excellent drivers, and a focused human player. The team was able to make it through qualification matches with a record of 7 wins and 3 losses, finishing ranked 10th out of 78 teams on our field. During alliance selection, Manchester’s team became the captain of the 8th seed alliance for the World Championship playoffs and selected two Texas teams and a team from Virginia to compete in the playoffs. Although our small town team played their A-game in the entire event, a few things happened outside of their control, including an alliance partner’s robot not working most of one playoff match, and they were eliminated in Match 5 of the playoffs.

The team would also like to give a huge shout-out to all of our students, mentors, and parents for all of their time and dedication to this team, including all of those who have ever been a part of this program. Each and every person and business involved over the last seven years has played a part in building the Manchester FIRST Robotics success and the generosity and contributions to have kept the team alive and able to be competitive.

We look forward to learning from our experiences, growing the team stronger, and giving back to the community. The 2023 Manchester High School’s Robotics FRC Team #6081, The Digital Dislocators team members are:

On the field: Jozef Sprunk—Driver (11th); Bodi Foulke—Driver (11th); Logan Kippnick—Lead Programmer (12th); and Jack Coluccy—Human Player (11th).

Vital team members behind the scenes: Caiden Kippnick (12th); John Lutes (12th); Luke Somerville (12th); Miranda Austin (11th); Alex Benedict (11th); Jaxon DuRussel (11th); Kyle Enzer (11th); Curtis Krause-Bean (11th); Nathanial Seaman (10th); Carl Casey (9th); Emerson Martin (9th); Liam Pierce (9th); Adalia Jarvis (8th—FTC MVP Build Team); and Natasha Seaman (7th—FTC MVP Programming Team).

Coaches/Mentors: Matt Sprunk (Coach 2023, mentor/parent since 2017 FTC team); Andy Galicki (Coach 2023, mentor/robotics consultant since initial 2016 FRC team); Jake Vershum (Mentor/Alumni from initial FRC 2016 team); Allen Morse-Koch (Mentor/Alumni from FRC 2017 team); Daniella Kippnick (Mentor/parent since initial 2016 FTC); Scott Somerville (Mentor 2023, parent since 2017 FTC team); Aaron Enzer (Mentor 2023, parent 2020 FRC team); and Mark West (Former parent, coach, and mentor since initial 2016 FRC team—we are grateful he is recently back from retirement and healing from a horrible car accident).

Our small-town team made a mark on the map in the playoffs at the World Robotics Championships! A huge congratulations and thank you to all!

All photos courtesy Scott Somerville and Daniella Kippnick

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.