By Kathryn Harmon, NKN Robotics Coach & Library Media Specialist
NKN Middle/High School
Neah-Kah-Nie High School robotics team the Argonauts have qualified to go directly to the state competition on March 9 and 10. This is the first NKN team to do so in 5 years. They won the Innovate award for their unique robot intake design, the “Gecko Grabber.” The Menacing Muffin Dragons received an invitation to the Second Chance Tournament in Philomath on Feb. 16th and 17th. The World’s smallest Team received two exemplary marks on their presentation to the judges, and ended in 11th place out of 18 teams. All three teams were some of the smallest in the competition – and still held their own. All of the coaches and mentors were very proud of their accomplishments.
To put our league in context – during the first match of the finals against the NKN Menacing Muffin Dragons and their alliance partner the Automated Skeletons – Tobor Tech and ReVamped Robotics (pronounced rev amped) got the second highest score in the United States, fifth highest in the world.
These two teams have the maximum number of team members (15) and having that number of members ensures that they can get more done during the season.
Lily, the only Middle School member of the Argonauts, was named MVP for her arm and launcher designs.TWsT and MMD got to be an alliance for the first time this season! Chloe overcame her nerves to operate the arm for one match during the competition. It was a joy to watch Michael’s (MMD) autonomous program with vision sensing work consistently throughout the competition! Alex (TWST) and Josiah (MMD) are amazing at driving under pressure – they never lose their cool even when things get difficult.Teams practicing their presentations! Team coaches really enjoyed watching these kids step up and talk about the work they did this year.Both 21237 and 14687 got to be in the semi-final rounds as the 6th and 7th seed out of 18 teams, and while they lost their elimination matches, they fought valiantly every single round.
We are hoping to consolidate teams next year – and send fewer teams with more members to be even more competitive next year.
Upcoming events for Robotics:
Second chance tournament – Feb. 16th and 17th
End of season celebration – Feb 26th after school
FTC State – March 9th and 10th
NKN graduation – June 7th – We have 5 seniors graduating with Robotics cords this year – Cat Fry, Corben Ray, Jay Johansen, Michael Troxel, and Mars Rombach.
Thanks for supporting NKN Robotics this year – we had a wonderful season, and really bonded as a club. Stay tuned for more Robotics as we navigate Second Chance and State!
