Robotics Team Brings Home the Design Award
By Kendall Shada
Both Pierce High robotics teams traveled to the Omaha Concordia Mustangs Blended V5RC tournament on Saturday, November 22.
Team 71414A, Smooth Operators, consists of Sawyer Konert, Andrew Lienemann, Makayla Shefl, Brandon Thomsen, and head coach Treva Dostal. Teams are randomly assigned a partner to face two randomly assigned partners. 71414A finished 5-2 and ranked 13th.
The 8th-ranked after qualifying rounds team 17788F Frostbyte from Valley selected 71414A Smooth Operators as their tournament partner. The combo won the first round 81-54, won their quarterfinal match 112-30, then lost in the semifinal match 66-26 to teams from HAVØC of Millard North and S.W.A.T of Wahoo.
"We performed very well this weekend. Our next thing to work on is increasing our skills score. With an increased skills score, we can qualify for the excellence award, the most prestigious vex award, and next above the design award." Shelf, a junior on the team, stated.
The 71414A Smooth Operators team was again awarded the Design Award. The Design Award recognizes an organized and professional approach to the engineering design process, project and time management, and team organization.
"This team's engineering notebook is very complete and easy for anyone to understand," the judges said.
Team 71414Y, The Six Ultimate Lifeforms includes Ethan Chaney, Kohin Eichberger, Alexander McKeown, Layne Prince, and Collin Wessendorf. 71414Y finished 4-3 and ranked 19th at the end of the qualifying rounds. They selected team 8151G Abolish G3 from Grand Island. They lost in the first round of the tournament, giving all they had but falling short 66-17.
"Both teams were very competitive and handled adversity with grit. I am very proud of team 71414Y, The Six Ultimate Lifeforms, for the steady improvements they have made with the robot and the successes they had today. The Smooth Operators continue to prove how much effort has gone into the season already to be among the top teams in the state," coach Dostal stated.
Smooth Operators are still looking to make improvements as their season progresses.
“The intake could have been better, and we also could have had a better center of gravity, so we didn't tip as much,” Thomsen, a junior on the team, stated.
The next competition for the Smooth Operators is January 9-10 at the UNL Cornhusker Tournament. The next action for both teams is January 24 at the O'Neill Eagles Tournament.
