The Hermantown Talons robotics team was very busy last week with the competition at the DECC (Duluth Entertainment Convention Center).
The event featured two simultaneous regionals: the Northern Lights Regional (NLR) and the Lake Superior Regional (LSR). Across both tournaments, there were a total of 110 teams competing.
The Talons competed in the NLR tournament, and after being in 48th place, they progressed their way up to 1st place! The Talons (Hermantown, MN) won as part of an alliance with Marshall Topperbots (Duluth, MN) and TonkaBots (Mound, MN). Marshall was the alliance captain, and all three teams have qualified for worlds in Houston, Texas. Due to their win, Hermantown qualified for the Minnesota state tournament, as well.
Hermantown's alliance also competed in the final event of the regional, which is known as the Double DECCer. The Double DECCer is a thrilling showdown between the two winning alliance teams from both the NLR and LSR. After an intense match, the alliance from NLR, which included Hermantown, came away victorious in the Double DECCer, effectively beating 110 other teams.
The Programming Pythons
The Programming Pythons, one of Hermantown's FTC (First Tech Challenge) teams, also had recent success. FIRST® Tech Challenge teams must design, build, and program a robot to compete in tournaments much like the Talons. FTC teams also must create a 15-page document to document their engineering process and read this document to judges at the tournament. This season, the Programming Pythons earned a Design Award and the THINK Award, which secured their trip to the state tournament. While they were at state, they also received a Purple Gear award, which is presented to teams to recognize the team's volunteer work at High Tech Kids-sponsored events.
FIRST Lego League
Some of Hermantown's FLL (FIRST Lego League) teams also had a good year. Two of our FLL teams made it to state! FLL teams are judged on not just how well their robot performs but also on robot design, presentations, and the team's innovation project. The FRC team, Augmented Imaginations (coached by John Wojciuk and Amy Andrews), made it to state by collaborating with an app developer as part of their project to create lesson plans for kindergarten writing. These lesson plans are being used at Hermantown and around the world. Hermantown's other FLL team that made it to state created a project in which they made a video that would encourage youth to get involved in Lego Robotics. The video featured testimonies from many members and an explanation of their journey through Lego robotics.