Cedar Catholic robotics team qualifies for western Iowa regional meet

HARTINGTON – The Cedar Catholic robotics program has seen much improvement in its second year – and the competition is not over yet for a couple of its students.

The Cedar Bot team of senior Jay Steffen and sophomore Brett Stevens finished in ninth place – just missing out on the sixth spot – out of 20 teams in the 2023 Magnetic League Tournament, held on Jan. 7 at Central Lyon High School in Rock Rapids, Iowa.

That means the two Cedar students have qualified for the Feb. 4 Western Iowa Super Qualifier at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha.

They will compete for a spot in the 2023 FIRST Tech Challenge Iowa Championship, which has been scheduled for March 3-4 in Coralville, Iowa.

The Magnetic League used to be called the Northwest Iowa League and is a part of the FIRST Tech Challenge – Iowa organization.

“The top 10 team finishers from each league tournament in the Iowa competitions are being allowed to move on to the next qualifier this year,” said Cedar Catholic science instructor Lowell Brown, the lead mentor for the Hartington school’s robotics program.

“We are presently working on a base and arm design change to improve machine capabilities and programming a more complete 30-second autonomous program to allow the team a greater ability to acquire additional competitive points for the next event,” he said.

In addition to Steffen and Brett Stevens, two other Cedar Bot teams competed in the six-round Magnetic League Tournament this year: -Seniors Spencer Albers and Jack Stevens, 12th place.

-Senior Alex Christensen and sophomore Christian Fiscus, 14th.

Brown previously explained the 2022-23 season’s robotics challenge, which is titled “PowerPlay,” that his high school students have been taking on for their meets.

“The premise is to complete a circuit to allow energy to move as you place your markers to provide a complete current,” he said. “We are using the same parts from last year designed for this year’s competition.”

The Cedar Bots’ season kicked off on Oct. 29 in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, and was followed by a Nov. 19 competition in Sioux City, Iowa.

Cedar Catholic added a Dec. 3 meet in Hull, Iowa, to its schedule and concluded its regular season with a Dec. 17 competition in Hinton, Iowa, before taking part in the Magnetic League Tournament in early January.

Brown noted as part of the final league competition of the season, morning interview sessions were held on Jan. 7 with judges from the University of Iowa in terms of innovation, design, engineering and creativity.

“The overall season may not have been overly successful in terms of improved competitiveness as our league standings remained consistent throughout the tournaments, but we did continue to solve design and operational machine issues the entire year,” he said.

“In terms of student development both in class and at competitions, the increase in the desire to continue to struggle through for improvement has been rewarding for all the team members,” he said.

Brown explained the interview sessions with the University of Iowa judges also allowed his Cedar Catholic students a greater understanding of the scope and magnitude of the FIRST Tech Challenge organization.

Brown noted he and his students were impressed with the college engineering recruiters present at the Magnetic League Tournament from South Dakota State University and the University of Northern Iowa.

“The Cedar Bot team members were approached and asked numerous questions from the post-secondary institutions present and it will be interesting to see what follows in terms of response and future education dreams of the team members,” he said.

Cedar Catholic’s robotics program is a regularly scheduled class that is part of the high school’s curriculum.

However, the school’s new junior high robotics program is an afterschool activity that typically meets two afternoons per week.

The Junior Cedar Bots took part in their one scheduled meet Jan. 14 in Columbus.

The FIRST Lego League junior high challenge is an entirely different design than the high school competition.

The junior high challenge is all based on renewable energy possibilities, Brown said.

“It is titled ‘Superpowered’ and part of the game’s purpose is to get the younger kids to look at electrical energy production not based on fossil fuel use,” he said.

The Junior Cedar Bots had three teams among the 26 at Columbus: -Seventh-graders Brayden Fischer and Kyson Lammers, 20th place.

-Seventh-graders Levi Fiscus and Sawyer Nieman, 21st place.

-Seventh-grader Jayden Lordemann and sixth-grader Braeden Gubbels, 26th place.

Brown noted Lordemann and Gubbels had complete and unexplained machine failure in the meet’s third competitive round.

“The abilities of the team members were truly tested and the learning that took place for our new teams was a phenomenal experience for the kids,” Brown said.