Posted on Thursday, March 5 at 21:20.

The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Resistance Robotics team has completed Day One of the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (F.I.R.S.T.) Lake Superior regional at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC). Head coach Reed Adrian reported to the Voice that the team overcame multiple hurdles today and will end the day with a huge accomplishment: they have a fully-functioning robot!

It's a great achievement for the youngest robotics team B-B-E has ever sent to the region competition since the program was founded in 2012.

Coach Adrian said, "This is the first time we remember in many years that we've had a fully-working robot after the opening day. I have to give all the credit to the kids. They sat and dug and dug away at the problems they had and didn't give up. We were able to get the robot out on the actual competition floor for two practice matches, which was another huge accomplishment for our first day."

On one of the two practice matches, the team had to skip out on sending the robot on the floor due to a faulty motor controller.

"Once we replaced that, we were good to go," said Adrian.

The Friday schedule (March 6) has doors opening at the DECC at 8 a.m. The opening ceremonies begin at 8:30 a.m., and the first batch of matches of the competition get underway at 9 a.m. The Lake Superior regional includes six competitive matches on Friday and three more on Saturday morning. B-B-E Resistance Robotics has their first match scheduled for 9:36 a.m. on Friday.

Click here (short link) to view the full regional competition schedule: https://bit.ly/2PO9KOr. And click on this link to see the official B-B-E Resistance Robotics FIRST website landing page: https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/4238/2020.

2020 robotics competitive season

The 2020 FIRST competition is titled "RISE: the force is building" and has a Star Wars-based theme called Infinite Recharge.The competition's synopsis says, "Renewable sources of energy are everywhere, all around us. Using intelligent systems, imaginations, and working together in the 2020 season of FIRST Robotics Competition, students can support boundless innovation and create a society that's empowered, inspired and hopeful."

The Infinite Recharge concept revolves around the importance of "setting out to inspire citizens of the galaxy to work together, strengthening and protecting the Force that binds us and creating a place where collaboration and collective wisdom can elevate new ideas and foster growth. Together, we RISE."

FIRST participation is proven to encourage students to pursue education and careers in STEM-related fields and inspire them to become leaders and innovators. Through FIRST, students develop valuable, real-world skills applicable to all career choices and outcomes. Across the world, FIRST robotics includes over 615,000 participating students on over 72,000 teams in over 95 countries. It is by far one of the largest competitions for youth in the world. FIRST robotics is a global robotics community preparing young people for the future.

Friday morning update: in their 9:36 a.m. match, B-B-E's team is in a Blue Alliance with teams from Carlton and Blooming Prairie. They will compete against teams in the Red Alliance from Westbrook-Walnut Grove, Brooklyn Park and Cambridge. Fans, friends and family of the team can watch on the live stream link (upper right corner of the website) by clicking here: https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/4238/2020. Each match last two-and-a-half minutes (based on the 2019 competition).

AMBER STEPHANI

A view of the robotics competition set at the D.E.C.C. arena floor in Duluth.

A second Friday morning update: click here to the B-B-E Jaguar Sports blog to read how the opening match went (short link): https://bit.ly/3aBNVtM.

The Bonanza Valley Voice will post further updates on Friday and Saturday.