The Suttons Bay Robotics team competed at the FIM District Mt. Pleasant Event over the weekend, earning an impressive performance and identifying tweaks to the Norsemen robot.
Suttons Bay finished 24th out of 40 teams at the district competition.
“We did pretty well as a team. We got unlucky a couple of times. We went from sixth place on day one, and then we dropped after a couple of unlucky matches,” Suttons Bay sophomore Mike Rokita said. “We didn’t break down on the field. We kept it running.”
The competition pits robots against each other either autonomously or manually as the rolling machines maneuver and gather yellow balls into a team’s zone. The robot then shoots the balls into a hoop-like structure that tallies points.
At the Mt Pleasant event, Suttons Bay received the Quality Award, celebrating machine robustness and fabrication.
In addition to competing in the qualification matches with the Norsemen robot, a number of judged awards were given at the conclusion of the competition. The students were interviewed by a panel of judges about various aspects of the robot and team dynamics.
The event is presented by At&T and is a part of the organization FIRST Robotics Competition.
For junior Alex McCormick, his favorite part of the program is putting his ideas to life.
“I love building it and putting it together and seeing the idea we had come to life. I also like competing at competitions, it’s a lot of fun to get to learn new things,” McCormick said. “I can put the knowledge I learn from this, and I want to go to college for computer science.”
Norsemen Robotics was founded at Suttons Bay High School in 2011 and has since expanded to include students from Lake Leelanau St Mary and Northport High Schools.
For a freshman, Kathryn Rokita finds creativity in the process of building a robot.
“I like the creativity that I can express myself while creating a robot and your ideas are very helpful. This is a team, and you find a community here. Come to the robotics and come have fun, and a place where you can meet new friends,” Kathryn Rokita said.
