Alta Wins Third Place in Robotics Idaho Regional

The Robotics veteran team took third place in the Idaho Regional Robotics Competition at the end of March and is now setting sights on the World Competition in Texas later this month.

More than 50 students consisting of two teams, veteran and rookie, participated. They had a rough start but gained momentum as the competition went on. Though the focus was on winning the competitions, each team was able to have fun during the playoff matches.

Team 4598 Icarus Innovated played against the number one ranked team and beat them with a score of 135-110, moving up a bracket.

Team 7634 New Hawks also experienced triumph, climbing up the rankings and placing 25th overall in the Regional. They had some up and downs, but they earned that spot, winning against plenty of other teams.

Alta Robotics won awards for this with a third place and the Woodie Flower Award being given to Ronald Strohm, mentor of the Robotics team.

Tim Holt, who nominated Strohm said, “Seeing Strohm win Woodie was unbelievable! I was overcome with joy.” The Woodie Flower Award recognizes the people who go above and beyond, putting a lot of time and effort into the teams and giving them a challenge. Holt concluded, “Our mentor was recognized for his thousands of hours he put into us for competition.”

Strohm said, “I have confidence in my team since they built that robot themselves and can fix it themselves.” He lives by the motto quoted from Dean Kamen: “I don’t use kids to build robots. I use robots to build kids.”

In addition to awards from the competition, Kassie Holt was given the Dean’s list award finalist. She said, “I felt very excited and proud since this was a big honor…I am proud winning that award in Idaho.” This award can help her get into colleges and universities.

The drive team of veterans were great at winning matches. Tim Holt of the veterans has learned to be prepared for anything. In the middle of the competition, their robot broke and had to be repaired in order to continue. He reminded himself that, “Things will break even if you didn’t expect it to break.”

The Rookie drive team was great as well, with one of their operators Julian Farley saying, “The best part was to be able to operate the claw and be a huge part of the team.” He really loves to be on the team and help out, “I thought I would be on the sidelines. Instead, I’m on field operating the claw during [the competition].”

Alta’s Robotics team will now move onto the Texas Championship on April 19 through the 22.