Cedar Catholic robotics program wraps up 2023-24 season

HARTINGTON – The Cedar Catholic High School robotics program has rolled to the end of its 2023-24 season.

The Cedar Bots competed in the Norman Rockwell League Tournament on Jan. 6 in South Sioux City. Cedar Catholic robotics students have been spending this season taking on the FIRST Tech Challenge titled “CENTERSTAGE.”

“Hexagonal game pieces will be placed in proper locations and stacked on a vertical game board with different point values depending on the color and arrangement of the game pieces,” said science instructor Lowell Brown, the primary mentor for the Cedar Bots and Junior Cedar Bots. “The game also requires a lifting of the machine in the final seconds of the game similar to doing a pullup.”

Cedar Catholic traveled from Hartington to South Sioux City to compete in the 24-team league tournament.

The Cedar Bots team of senior Gavin Joachimsen, senior Paul Kleinschmit and junior Brett Stevens placed 15th.

Another Cedar Catholic team – junior Christian Fiscus, junior Braeden Kleinschmit and sophomore Nolan Heimes – placed 16th.

The third Cedar Bots team of junior Nicholas Coleman, sophomore Ryan Lammers and freshman Will Steffen placed 19th.

“The teams went into the tournament with confidence in their approach to the competition,” Brown said. “All the members were very surprised and disappointed in their performance and results.”

He said Joachimsen, Paul Kleinschmit and Stevens went through “a series of bad breaks” that had a huge impact on their team during the league tournament.

“They lost two matches by a single point, and in their final match, the team they were paired with was given a 30-point penalty for an improper robot action, which cost them the final match,” Brown said. “They could have very easily found themselves in the championship round.”

Earlier this season, the Cedar Bots traveled on Dec. 16 from Hartington to Hinton, Iowa, to compete in a league meet.

The Cedar Catholic team made up of Joachimsen, Paul Kleinschmit and Stevens placed 11th out of 26 teams.

Another team of Cedar Bots – Fiscus, Braeden Kleinschmit, Heimes and freshman Jackson Jones – finished in 15th place.

The third Cedar Catholic team of Coleman, Lammers and Steffen placed 16th.

“Our programming has gotten better thanks to Mr. Joachimsen,” Brown said. “He’s trying to show the other guys how to do it for next year because he’s a senior. He’s trying to guide and direct next year’s programmers a little bit.”

Joachimsen, who completed his first and only season as a member of the Cedar Bots, noted he had fun with the coding aspect of the robotics program.

“I thought maybe I’d try out robotics and see how it goes,” he said. “I liked it a lot – learning how to do stuff, like code, and building robots, seeing how it goes.”

Paul Kleinschmit, who also was a part of Cedar Catholic’s robotics

program for just one season, noted he enjoyed his time as a member of the Cedar Bots.

“It’s been pretty fun getting to learn a lot about the robots,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed hanging out with our fellow robotics members. It’s been a fun experience.”

As for the Junior Cedar Bots, they are scheduled to present their projects and compete with their robots on Jan. 20 in South Sioux City. The FIRST Lego League junior high challenge – called “MASTERPIECE” this season – is an entirely different design than the high school competition. “The Junior Cedar Bots’ challenge revolves around game movements based on the production of a video or completion of a multimedia creation by the students with game pieces based on the idea of filming, taking pictures, making artwork, etc.,” Brown said. He noted Cedar Catholic’s robotics teams have improved “quite well” throughout this season. “They were more persistent this year than they were last year,” Brown said. “Instead of just being satisfied with ‘That’s good enough,’ they wanted to go on to the next level. It’s been fun to watch.” He said he is already looking forward to the Cedar Bots’ next season. “Regardless of the outcomes of this year’s competitions, the students are already looking forward to the upcoming season and what the next series of concepts and programming demands will be as a part of the upcoming challenge,” Brown said. “As with any FIRST Tech Challenge coursework and/ or projects they will be asked to prepare and complete, it is the learning, teamwork, cooperation and gracious professionalism in everything they do that guides the students’ efforts and gives the program such value,” he said.