SCI-MA-TECH’s FIRST Robotics Team #1711 (also known as The Raptors) competed at the FIRST Robotics West Michigan Regional at Grand Valley State University in March. The team consists of students from Traverse City Central High School and from Traverse City Area Public Schools’ SCI-MA-TECH program (housed at Traverse City Central High School). Raptors is an acronym for Robots and People Transmitting Objective Radical Synergy.
The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) challenges teams of young people and their mentors to build a robot to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard kit of parts. In this year’s game, robots raced around an oval track knocking down 40” inflated trackballs and moving them around the track, passing them either over or under a 6’6” overpass. During the competition, teams were randomly placed on alliances of three teams. Each of the fifty-three teams at the West Michigan Regional competed in eight preliminary matches.
At the end of the first day of competition, the Raptors had a 4-2 record and were in tenth place. The next day the Raptors lost two tough matches to finish 4-4 overall and in 27th place, their best finish ever. The Raptors also received the Imagery Award, which celebrates attractive and creative robot design. Team #1711’s robot design included jaws and eyes to mimic the head of a real Raptor. The Imagery award is handed out to less than 50 teams nationwide.
Team #1711 is sponsored through grants and donations from the Traverse Bay Sunrise Rotary Foundation, Team Elmers, Fifth Third Bank, Great Lakes Eye Consultants, Peter D. Fedor, M.D., Traverse City Products, Inc., TranTek Automation Corporation, Tellurex Corporation, Grand Traverse Radiologist, PC, Air Way Automation, GM Retirees of Northern Michigan, and the Kennell-Norris, Venditto-Fisher, Mendez and Malone families. A raffle with prizes donated by the Grand Traverse Resort and Grandview Restaurants also helped raise funds for Team #1711. Mentors for Team #1711 include retired GM engineers and mentors from TranTek Automation Corporation, Thermoelectric Design LLC, and Artec Interiors.
The Raptor has now returned to Traverse City. Team #1711 is ready and willing to demonstrate the robot to any interested group. For more information, contact SCI-MA-TECH Director John Failor at 231-933-3554.