Perham Full Metal Jackets robotics team heads to first state robotics tournament in school history

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The Perham Full Metal Jackets robotics team will be competing in the Minnesota State High School League state robotics tournament on Saturday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

This will be Perham’s first state tournament appearance in robotics since the program was founded in 2010.

Andy Paulson, faculty advisor for the Full Metal Jackets, said they graduated all but five members from last year’s robotics squad, which will make the tournament an experience builder for the young team.

“We’re a very young team, only having five kids out of the 27 with experience in robotics before,” said Paulson. “So, to do what we’re doing this year, we finished the regular season ranked 27 out of the 190 teams, and the top 36 teams go to the state championship.”

He also explained how the whole competitive process across the state began back in January.

“We have about two months to analyze the game, brainstorm, come up with any ideas about how to tackle the game, and build a robot,” said Paulson. “We build it, we program, we test it, and then we compete.”

Overall, 190 high school teams compete in the program called, First Robotics, which lead to three regional tournaments with about 60 teams at each event.

“The program is run a lot like a business,” he said. “Some kids are builders, some kids are designers, we have a drive team, but then, we also have outreach. We have people that are communicating with businesses. They run the program a lot like NASCAR. It’s a very expensive program. Just to go to one regional costs $5,000.”

Paulson also said that some members of the team might not even touch their 120-pound robot.

While reflecting on the team’s five-month-long season, Paulson said:

“It’s been so great to have these kids. They came into this and a lot of them were new, they had no idea what to expect and they’ve been so willing to learn everything. They’re openminded. They’re tackling things they normally wouldn’t tackle. And we have a wide group of kids because it’s open to grades 8-12, so I have eighth graders working with seniors. It’s been so great to work these kids and see them grow and I’m excited for what this program has in its future.”

The first qualification matches for the state robotics championship begin at 8:30 a.m. on May 6.

A livestream of the event can be viewed at: https://nspn.tv/mshsl/GameStream/18390