Robotics students to represent Bemidji Middle 歪歪漫画 at world competition in Texas for 3rd straight year

040624.N.BP.BMSROBOTICS 1.jpg — Oliver Gieser and Finnegan Bowe watch as Nicolas Licata, right, drives team 1532D's bot through the "Over Under" course during a team practice on March 28, 2024, at BMS.

By Daltyn Lofstrom

April 05, 2024 at 12:11 PM

BEMIDJI 鈥� For the third year in a row, a Bemidji Middle 歪歪漫画 VEX Robotics team will travel to Dallas, Texas for the VEX Robotics World Championship set to take place April 27-30.

Finding out the news of their world invite, 1532D team member Nicolas Licata was ecstatic at the prospect that an official winning streak had formed 鈥� and that a team of first-years would carry on such a streak.

鈥淭he adrenaline of the game combined with the adrenaline of making it to worlds, it was a very exciting moment,鈥� Licata said.

040624.N.BP.BMSROBOTICS 2.jpg — Nicolas Licata works on team 1532D's robot before driving it through the course during a team practice on March 28, 2024, at Bemidji Middle 歪歪漫画.

Season overview

Kicking off their competition season with a Nov. 18 tournament in Fisher, the team has navigated several rounds of trial-and-error while strategizing how to score the most points for

Alliances score points using 鈥渢riballs,鈥� which are worth five points when scored in your alliance鈥檚 goal and worth two points when placed in your alliance鈥檚 offensive zone by the end of the match.

Two alliances made up of two teams compete against each other during each match, which starts with a 15-second autonomous period.

鈥淎t the start of every match, there鈥檚 an autonomous period where your robot automatically does whatever you tell the code to do,鈥� Licata explained.

040624.N.BP.BMSROBOTICS 6.jpg — Nicolas Licata drives team 1532D's bot through the "Over Under" course during a team practice on March 28, 2024, at Bemidji Middle 歪歪漫画.

The team that scores the most points during the autonomous period earns eight autonomous points. An additional autonomous win point is awarded to a team for completing certain tasks during this period, as well.

By the end of a one-minute, 45-second driver-controlled period, an alliance can also score points by suspending a robot from an elevation bar along the perimeter of the field.

Knowing the objective of the course, the team entered Fisher with nothing more than a basebot consisting of four wheels, a 鈥渂rain鈥� and a battery.

鈥淭hat was their first competition in VEX and it turned out to be a long day for the team,鈥� coach Bryan Anderson said. 鈥淭hey finished the day with a 2-6 record, (placing) 24th out of 30 teams, and didn鈥檛 make elimination rounds.鈥�

040624.N.BP.BMSROBOTICS 8.jpg — Team members Finnegan Bowe, left, and Oliver Gieser look through drawers of parts while working on their bot during a team practice on March 28, 2024, at Bemidji Middle 歪歪漫画.

The team would build upon their basebot throughout the season as they competed in their second and third competitions in Bemidji and East Grand Forks respectively.

By their fourth competition at the University of North Dakota, the team flipped their win-loss ratio with a 4-2 record from qualification matches. Though they lost their first elimination match, the team walked away with the Excellence Award for their hard work throughout the season.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the highest award obtainable other than competition champion,鈥� Anderson noted, 鈥渁nd this punched their ticket to the state competition.鈥�

Competing at the Minnesota State VEX Robotics Championship from Feb. 29 to March 2 in St. Cloud, the team ended qualifiers in sixth place out of 60 teams. They were intentional when selecting their alliance prior to elimination matches.

040624.N.BP.BMSROBOTICS 5.jpg — Team members Nicolas Licata, Finnegan Bowe and Oliver Gieser work on their bot during a team practice on March 28, 2024, at Bemidji Middle 歪歪漫画.

鈥淪ome teams will pick whatever team is doing good,鈥� team member Oliver Gieser said. 鈥淲e were more strategic, picking teams with robots that work super well with ours.鈥�

Though they would lose their final match, the team鈥檚 second-place finish paved the way for a world invite.

鈥淭hey picked a much lower-seeded team for eliminations,鈥� Anderson said, 鈥渁nd that alliance found great synergy in the end matches.鈥�

040624.N.BP.BMSROBOTICS 4.jpg — Bemidji Middle 歪歪漫画 robotics team 1532D earned its world invite with a second-place finish at the Minnesota State VEX Robotics Championship held in February in St. Cloud.

Heading to worlds

As they continue to meet for practices, 1532D doesn鈥檛 have any expectations for worlds as they are simply grateful for the chance to compete.

鈥淲e were lucky to win the Excellence Award that brought us to state, which has now led us to worlds,鈥� Gieser mentioned. 鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna go how it鈥檚 gonna go. We made it to worlds and that鈥檚 all I really care about.鈥�

Licata looks forward to the multicultural exposure of the competition with teams attending from all over the world.

鈥淚 also speak Spanish, so if we get paired up with any teams from South America or some other place, I鈥檒l get to be the translator,鈥� Licata said lightheartedly.

040624.N.BP.BMSROBOTICS 3.jpg — Oliver Gieser and Nicolas Licata work on their team's robot before driving it through the course during a team practice on March 28, 2024, at Bemidji Middle 歪歪漫画.

Anderson expressed excitement for 1532D as they carry on the streak for BMS.

鈥淲e never go into the season saying that we鈥檙e going to worlds, but that鈥檚 always the goal,鈥� Anderson left off. 鈥淭his team peaked at the right time and has done a really good job.鈥�