A-P Robotics competes in Fort Dodge

The A-P Falcon Bots, Team 10656, competed in the League Championship on Monday, Jan. 20, in Fort Dodge.

The Falcon Bots just missed the top-12 cutoff for the next round, placing 13th out of 27 teams competing in the First Tech Challenge (FTC) Batuu League. Teams from Mason City, Waukee, Grundy Center, IKM-Manning and Fort Dodge are among the other schools represented in the league.

"I am extremely proud of this team," said Nancy Flanigan, A-P Tech Integrationist and tech teacher, who also coaches the robotics team. "They really came together and worked hard together. They also cared about their team personnel and performance. The Falcon Bots had a successful season and used critical thinking skills to solve mechanical and programming problems throughout the entire season. They have grown as a team which, in my opinion, is a huge success for this season." 

The team presented the robot; explaining the design, engineering, and programming process to judges at the competition. The entire team relayed its successes, especially about the Outreach they participated and led this season. The Falcon Bots hosted a STEM Camp last summer – the first at A-P – and also demoed the robot at the Iowa State Fair.

"Those were both great ways to reach community members and young kids," Flanigan said.

The robot functioned the way the team expected. Throughout the season and at Ft. Dodge, engineers like Matthew Birch, Josh Schwerdtfeger, James Sullivan & Henry Reints solved problems and adjusted mechanical and programming functions in order for the robot to compete. The team did a super job adjusting and fixing the robot so it was ready for the next round.

This year, the team has more than doubled their members including seniors, Colby Diekman (engineer), Benji Mundt (scout/notebook), James Sullivan (engineer) & Cameron Orent (manager); junior Captain Matthew Birch (programmer & engineer); sophomores Olivia Anderson (promotions), Boyd Scanlan (promotions), Josh Schwerdtfeger (programmer & engineer), Co-Captain Laynee Orent (Lead promoter/notebook) and Dillon Santee (programmer/notebook); and freshmen Howie Fertig (scout/engineer), Clayton McClanahan (scout/engineer), Haley Homeister (programmer), Tyler Birch (promotions), Saphire Lewis (scout/notebook) and Henry Reints (engineer).

Flanigan is assisted in coaching by John Deere, Engineer, Lee Birch who is also the father of two members, Matthew & Tyler. John Deere is one of the sponsors for the team.

In the Tech Challenge, teams begin the meet with the robot performing certain tasks autonomously within 30 seconds. Two drivers have two minutes to maneuver the robot to pick up the blocks, place them on a foundation and stack the blocks. The meet finalizes with end game strategies.

This year, the robot's design changed several times. The team made changes to adapt to the game and eventually ended up with a robot that is more controlled, efficient and speedy. 

Another important job in robotics is to keep track of logging problems and solutions; designs and tasks completed in an engineering notebook. A new committee was formed by the Falcon Bots was about promoting the program.

The League Competition has another layer to the meet. Teams present their robot to judges and are evaluated based on gracious professionalism, showing their problem-solving processes, engineering and design, programming, individual responsibilities and teamwork. The top 12 teams advanced to the Superqualifier in February, and the top 12 from that will advance to the state FIRST Tech Challenge.The A-P Falcon Bots, Team 10656, competed in the League Championship on Monday, Jan. 20, in Fort Dodge.

The Falcon Bots just missed the top-12 cutoff for the next round, placing 13th out of 27 teams competing in the First Tech Challenge (FTC) Batuu League. Teams from Mason City, Waukee, Grundy Center, IKM-Manning and Fort Dodge are among the other schools represented in the league.

"I am extremely proud of this team," said Nancy Flanigan, A-P Tech Integrationist and tech teacher, who also coaches the robotics team. "They really came together and worked hard together. They also cared about their team personnel and performance. The Falcon Bots had a successful season and used critical thinking skills to solve mechanical and programming problems throughout the entire season. They have grown as a team which, in my opinion, is a huge success for this season."