It’s that time of year: yes, it’s robot season!
Since 2008, Chaska High School students have built robots and competed in the FIRST Robotics competition, leading to many awards. Robotics is recognized as a high school academic activity in Eastern Carver County schools.
The 2025 team (the RoboHawks) includes 42 students, two coaches and multiple mentors who pitch in as time permits. RoboHawks is entirely led by students, with captains and members taking charge of designing, building and programming the robot. They also must find sponsorships, organize fundraisers, and handle budgeting and community outreach opportunities.
This year’s captains include Gavin Moen, Will Jones, Sam Bonifas, Maddie Speetzen and Kayden Chapman. The head coach is Peter Potter, who also works with coach Allie Clemons.
What is ‘FIRST’?
FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” Founded by Dean Kamen in 1989, the program inspires kids from all over the world to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
There are four FIRST programs:
- FIRST Lego League Jr. (pre-K students)
- FIRST Lego League (grades 1-8)
- FIRST Tech Challenge (grades 6-12)
- FIRST Robotics Competition (High school grades 9-12)
The RoboHawks share shop space with the FIRST Tech Challenge. Next year, the RoboHawks plan to begin offering assistance to the Lego League.
RoboHawks Schedule
In January, all participating teams are provided objectives and the annual challenge. Just six weeks are allowed to design, build and program a robot. At the end of that time, they must be ready to perform at a regional competition.
Once the objectives are known, the team begins by prototyping different ideas for how they can achieve what they want their robot to do. Based on the ideas the team likes most (and those that are most feasible), they will narrow down designs and begin building.
“When presented with the initial challenge of building this year’s robot, we start by breaking down the game and figuring out what we want to focus on,” Captain Kayden Chapman said. “From there, we separate into groups to research and design possibilities, then create prototypes and present them to the team and decide what design we want to build. After that, people will break off again based on their specialties or what they are interested in learning more about in terms of creating the robot. There are typically several groups building aspects of the robot, beginning to program it, creating parts, wiring it, or working on the more social aspect of the team with fundraising or outreach and social media.”
Captain Gavin Moen shared his perspective on the many steps involved in the process.
“Once our initial drawing phase is completed on paper, we turn it into a computer-aided design (CAD) model,” Moen said. “After that, we cut parts, work on assembly, wiring, and programming before finishing the robot.”
Maddie Speetzen is a team captain and has worked on 3D printing for previous robots. She researched options for new machines this year and coordinated purchasing two of them, which will be used this year.
“The new printers will be an improvement, and I’m looking forward to working with them,” she said.
Though the team has just six weeks to build, they still work to make improvements in between competitions and while they are waiting for next year’s pre-season to start. At the time of this publication, the team was still debating the name for the 2025 robot.
Competitions
The RoboHawks team typically attends two competitions. For 2025, they will go to the Northern Lights Regional in Duluth, Minnesota (Feb. 26 – March 1) and the Seven Rivers Regional in La Crosse, Wis. (March 19 – 22). Depending on the team’s performance, they may be invited to/qualified for a state competition in Minneapolis and the world’s championship in Houston, Texas, though neither of these competitions are guaranteed.
This year, two Chaska and Chanhassen FIRST Tech Challenge teams have qualified for the state competition, which will be held in Burnsville on Feb. 14-15: the ‘Lectric Lemons (Chaska) and RoboMania (Chanhassen). At regional competitions held in December and January, the ‘Lectric Lemons and RoboMania won the Think award, and the ‘Lectric Limes (Chaska) won the Connect award (second place).
Last year, the RoboHawks team was invited to the world’s championship because of their performance at their second regional competition, where they won a wildcard slot. They had a strong start but made a few small errors that prevented them from making it to the playoffs. They finished in 21st place, with six wins and four losses in their division, a very impressive performance.
Madelyn Reinertson is in her third year with RoboHawks, and joined the team after she observed her brother participating.
“I like it because it’s hand-on, and I’m looking at engineering as a career in the future, so this provides some great experience,” she said.
Learn more
- Website: https://robohawks2531.weebly.com
- X: @2531RoboHawks
- Instagram: @2531RoboHawks
