The Wisconsin Regional

All photos submitted by Carly Ungerer

Carly Ungerer

Hamilton High School’s Robotics Team, Charger Robotics competed in the Wisconsin Regional the week leading up to Spring Break, a FIRST robotics competition which involved 47 teams, including one team from Mexico. The event, which started in 2000, is a popular event in the region due to the well-run nature of the event, largely due to the many volunteers who help run the event. In fact, many of the volunteers involved in the regional are connected to Charger Robotics, either as alumni of the programs or current mentors. Charger Robotics alum and current advisor Dave Woods was just one of the volunteers and organizers who helped the event run smoothly. Woods is a member of the Board of Directors for FIRST Inspires WI, and now helps coordinate the event which he attended as a student on the team. Charger Robotics itself has a long history at the Wisconsin Regional, attending yearly since 2006. The team, throughout its 22 year history was actually responsible for the start of several local teams, which spurred the creation of the event due to the influx of teams.

Elimination Matches

The regional was a resounding success, with Team 537 winning ten of their twelve matches during qualifiers and captaining the second seed alliance during elimination matches. The team took third overall, losing a spot in the finals by one point. Senior Emilie Fuhr, is the team captain and the coach of the drive team, said, “The team’s performance at WIMI [the Wisconsin Regional] was great! We had our best performance statistically since 2014 and ranked second in the qualification matches!]”. Charger Robotics also claimed the Creativity Award, the team’s second award this season following the Judges Award they won in North Dakota. Team 537 won the Creativity Award for unique design elements of their robot ED1C24, especially the custom 3D printed gears in the “wrist” of the robot and the distinctive chain system that lifted their arm. 

The chain which is used to lift the arm of the robot, can be found in a snowmobile and is designed to be very robust. The chain can hold the weight of four trucks and is meant to be the last thing on a snowmobile to break. The drive team for ED1C24 has taken to saying, “break the chain,” meaning drive aggressively and competitively as if they are trying to break it. The driver of the robot embodies this ideal, even wearing a custom 3D printed badge that says simply, “I am fast.” The competitive driving displayed at the regional enabled Charger Robotics to perform at a high level, having the highest average ranking points and charge station scores per match.

Despite not qualifying for the FIRST World Championships, the team was thrilled by their performance at the regional. The awards won this season were the first Charger Robotics has won in three years. The robot was functional in every match played and the team ranked higher than in the past few years. Junior and student lead Gretchen Brookes says, “Even though we didn't make it to Worlds this season, we did really well, and I’m excited for next year.”