Tippecanoe County robotics teams to compete in 2024 FIRST Championship
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Teams representing Harrison High School, West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School and McCutcheon High School will travel to Houston, Texas, on Wednesday to compete in the 2024 FIRST World Championship in robotics.
Tippecanoe County schools will represent three out of 12 Indiana teams competing in the international competition, according to a news release, showcasing innovation, teamwork and talent among fellow robotics enthusiasts. The championship competition, hosted by FIRST Robotics, a non profit international youth organization, is the final stop for competitors in the youth robotics season, the release said. The 2024 FIRST Championship will weave together a fusion of STEM education topics, with more than 1,000 teams scheduled to compete.
Rose Madsen, team president of the Harrison Boiler Robotics team, said school’s student-lead group spent two months, 17 hours each week, to prepare for the season’s competitions, with little time in between to make adjustments as needed. For this year’s set of qualifying competitions, Madsen said teams were required to design a robot that could move an foam ring up off of the ground and into one of two goals, then the robot is required to climb a chain in order to collaborate with other robots.
Complying with the competition’s goals and expectations, Madsen explained the team’s robot uses a set of rollers to pick up the foam ring, flipping it up to feed into a set of wheels. The wheels can then fling the ring into the goals. In order for the robot to climb the required chain in the competition, Madsen said it also have a set of arms with hooks that are used to grab onto the chain and pull the robot up.
Zach McKeever, lead mentor for the Maverick Robotics team participating in the 2024 FIRST World Championship, said McCutcheon’s team of students ranging from freshmen to seniors spent eight weeks prior to their competition season kick-off in January working to build their robotics design. Their robot, McKeever explained, is a complex system that revolved around a two-stage belt-driven elevator system with a pivoting shooter.
Ashley Robbins, president of FIRST Indiana Robotics, said the 2024 FIRST Championship in Houston symbolizes the relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation.
“We are incredibly proud of the participants and the impact they’ve made in their communities over the last year,” Robbins said. “The competition is really about learning, growing and preparing for the future. As we like to say, we don’t use kids to build robots. We use robots to build kids.”
McKeever said for his team of students, punching their ticket to the championship competition in Houston is the best thing that has happened to them.
“It shows that hard work and dedication does actually pay off, and that kids in STEM deserve to get some recognition,” McKeever said. “Having just the opportunity to be on an FIRST Robotics Competition team is truly wonderful. Some people might think we’re going to the championship for a robot, but it’s really because of the people. We all share amazing ideas and are a big family.”
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached by email at jellison@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ellison_writes.
