Apple Valley Teams Compete in High School Robotics Regional

It was a learning experience for both Eastview and Apple Valley high schools in the fourth annual North Star Regional robotics competition Saturday at Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.

Neither team advanced to the quarterfinals, although both had their moments in the early rounds Friday and Saturday morning.

Apple Valley was 3-4 in matches and finished 37th in the team standings. Eastview was also 3-4 and was 43rd overall.

The First Robotics Competition challenges teams of students and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard kit of parts and a common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts and enter them in a series of competitions.

The regional competition involved two parts. The main task was to build a robot that could lift inner tubes onto a rack. A secondary challenge was to build a “mini-bot,” which could climb a 12-foot pole.

Apple Valley, which was a regional winner in the 2010 Minnesota North Star Regional, didn’t have as much success this year. The team didn’t advance to Saturday afternoon’s elimination round.

Eastview was joined in a blue team alliance by teams from Eagan and Delano, but the alliance lost its first two matches to an alliance headed by robotics powerhouse Lees Summit, MO, in the double-elimination matches.

“Our defensive strategy worked pretty well at stopping them,” said Brian Taintor of the Eastview team.  “What didn’t work was our min-bot. And our deployment simply didn’t work.”

The Eastview Constant is sponsored by Thomson-Reuters and Eastview High School.

Pentair and Apple Valley High School sponsor the Apple Valley team.