The Detroit Lakes Electric Lakers Robotics Team recently traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the FIRST Robotics Green Country Regional Competition, traveling with five other teams from Northern Minnesota.
The competition ran April 1st through the 4th and featured more than 50 teams from six different countries.
The Electric Lakers ranked 26th out of 46 teams and also cheered on their Northern Minnesota teammates in the finals, including Mechatronics from Alexandria, ProDigi from Thief River Falls, and the Iron Mosquitoes from Babbitt. Two teams from Cass Lake – the Accelerators and the Regulators – also made the trip.
Both Mechatronics and ProDigi will represent Northern Minnesota at the FIRST Robotics World Championship later this month in Houston, Texas.
Lakers coach Christin Mohr said the six Minnesota teams supported each other throughout the competition. Mohr said, “The collaborative spirit was just amazing and made everything so much more enjoyable.”
At one point during the event, the 100 or so Minnesota robotics students, coaches, and mentors showed up wearing their green shirts from the Northern Minnesota Robotics Conference. The NMRC is a network the Detroit Lakes team is part of, with more than 70 teams that support each other in building and maintaining their robots. When they entered the arena, she said the group looked like a sea of green.
Mohr said the cooperation continued throughout the competition. One morning, Detroit Lakes’ coder became sick. When she sent out a message asking for help, three other teams immediately stepped in to assist, even though they were also dealing with their own technical challenges. She said this is typical among their robotics teams, which are always ready to jump in and help each other.
A highlight of the trip was meeting students from around the world. Minnesota students not only connected with teams from Belize, Japan, Mexico, and China, but also shared ideas and learned from one another.
And as the Electric Lakers climbed onto the bus for the long trip home, they had just one question for their coach:
“Where are we going next year?”
Story By Karen Downing