Thief River Falls robotics teams shine in home tournament. – TRF Radio

Skills 2nd place CES team Prowler Bots Chester Cullen, Colton Huth, Robert Crandall, Ryder Olsonawski

Saturday February 12 Franklin Middle hosted 34 elementary and middle school robotics teams fromMinnesota and North Dakota at the 3 rd Annual Thief River Falls VEX IQ tournament. In total five teamsfrom Thief River Falls participated in the tournament which was split into two challenges. The first wasthe teamwork challenge in which the teams are paired randomly with other teams other teams to tryand score as many combined points as possible.Through 9 qualification rounds Team XNOR from Franklin middle school ranked first averaging 72.14points per match. This was almost 10 points ahead of 2 nd place team Alpha Males from South MiddleSchool in Grand Forks which averaged 63.71 points. The two teams were paired together in the Finalsand won the teamwork challenge scoring 92 points which was 30 points more than the 2 nd placefinishers Green Wave Robotics from East Grand Forks and Three Amigos from St. Cloud. Also competingin the teamwork finals were the Chocobots from CES finishing 5 th , St. Bernards Robotics finishing 7 th and the Prowler Bots from CES finishing 9 th .The second challenge was the skills challenge. In the skills challenge teams are given 3 chances of oneminute of driver control time to score as many points as possible. They are also given 3 chances of oneminute of autonomous or programmed time to score as many points as possible. They then add thehighest driver score and the highest autonomous score together for a total skills score. Team XNOR fromFranklin Middle School also won the skills challenge with a score of 80 points. This was 10 points aheadof the 2 nd place Prowler Bots which scored 70 points. St. Bernards Robotics also scored 70 points andlanded in 3 rd as the Prowler Bots had a slightly higher programming score. Also ranking in the skillschallenge were the Chocobot from CES ranking 11th with 44 points and the Techno Bots from CESranking 15 th with 34 points.During the tournament teams are also interviewed by a group of volunteer judges and several awardsare handed out for a variety of reasons. None of these of are considered more prestigious than theExcellence award which is considered the highest award in VEX Robotics. This award takes intoconsideration the teams engineering notebook, the teams interview with the judges, the teamsperformance during the qualification rounds of the tournament and the teams skills ranking. Sincethere was more than 10 middle school and 10 elementary school teams at this event there was anExcellence award handed out for each division. The Alpha Males from South Middle School in GrandForks won the middle school award and St. Bernards Robotics from Thief River Falls won theElementary School Division.

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Thief River Falls robotics teams shine in home tournament. - TRF Radio