10 Clubs &

The Bear

Orgs. March 31, 2022

CyBears robotics team competes after 2 year haitus

Keaton Norfleet designs as our mechanisms are very focused around it functioning well for our drivers, which
Staff Writer is something that we have had problems with in previous years. With the efficient systems, I
hope that we are able to perform well.”
On Wed., March 23, the CyBear robotics team hit the road to travel to Cedar Falls to At a competition, five members are allowed to enter the playing field. Two members
compete in the F.I.R.S.T Robotics Competition. Due to Covid, the CyBears were unable to drive the robot after the autonomous round, which is the period in which the robot drives on
compete the past two years. The team placed 29 out of 45. its own, working from pre-installed code. One member is a coach who provides instructions
Before settling in the hotel, the team made a stop at the UNI-Dome a day before and strategy for drivers and supervises the match, and one member is a human player. The
competition to drop off and set up the robot and the pit station. The team then woke up early human player’s job is to feed cargo through designated loading stations, so drivers can have
the next morning and traveled directly to the UNI-Dome. The robot and bumpers had to undergo the robot pick up more cargo.
inspection before the robot could perform in any matches. During inspection, a competition Joining the team for the first time this year are freshmen Brown, S. Cantrell, E. Hink-
volunteer has to check to see that the robot meets the stated regulations and does not contain house, Garrett, Katey Lenoch, Norfleet, and senior Regennitter as well as honorary member
any hazards. Eli Garrett, who is in sixth grade.
Senior Matt Colbert said, “Inspection was the most nerve-racking part, because if Colbert said, “I hope that after we seniors leave our robotics team, it is as strong as
just one thing is wrong with our robot, we may be unable to compete. I was very happy after ever, and that this cycle of new members is a continuing trend, so we can get back up to the
we made it through inspection easily.” numbers we had before.”
The robot’s drive team consisted of seniors Colbert (as Drive Coach), Luis Hinkhouse
and Kollin Kettler (Safety Captain), and an interchanging member as a technician.
Thursday had no competitive matches, only practice matches. This was the day for
all teams to test their robot on a proper playing field and work out any problems the robot might
have, while also allowing the teams to meet other competitors. There were 45 total teams.
Due to software/hardware problems, the CyBears had to drop out of matches four
and 17 but were able to perform in matches nine, 19, and 24. After match 24, the team inspected
the robot and made any necessary adjustments before leaving.
Kettler said, “It was a busy day fixing a lot of issues we didn’t know we had, but I’m
happy we were able to solve them then compared to during qualification matches.”
Friday held day one of the qualification matches. Each match would determine the
team’s rank, rank one being the best. All teams attended opening ceremonies, which officially
welcomed everyone to the Robotics Iowa Regionals. The CyBears played eight matches, with
minimal software and hardware problems.
The team's rank improved from 45, to 38, then to 33, and down to 20. During the
team’s fifth match, they ran into a software issue, which bumped their rank back up to 35. The
climber also failed many attempts, which lost the team additional points. This hiccup was soon
corrected in match 60, which was the last match of the day. The team was able to shoot over
eight cargo balls into the lower hub and even made a successful climb at the end of the match.
Three stations down from the team’s pit was team 4859, also called “The Cybears,”
from Byron, Minnesota. The West Branch “CyBears” took a liking to the Minnesota team, and
the two made a pact to join alliances for finals if they both made it. The team left the UNI-
Dome after closing ceremonies.
On Saturday, which was the last day of the Iowa Regionals, the team only had three
more matches out of the 23 that took place. The first round was match number 64 on the Red
Alliance. By the last 30 seconds of the match, a bearing on the robot's intake system had fallen CyBears Robotics Team. Front Row: Kayla Garrett, Katey Lenoch, Eli Garrett,
out of its place, making the intake inoperable. However, the team still made a successful climb Lu Guetzko. Second Row: Elliot Hinkhouse, Zeb Brown. Back Row: Kollin Ket-
at the end of the match. The Blue Alliance did end up winning the match by two points. tler, Tanner Harrison, Luis Hinkhouse, Cole Cantrell, Matt Colbert, Keaton Nor-
Their second round was match number 74. The team had yet another problem with
the robot. The pneumatics system’s valve stopped properly operating, which caused malfunc- fleet, Coach Matt Cain, Seth Cantrell. Photo by Mike Colbert.
tions in the pumps. The robot’s armature would not always rise or fall according to the drive
team’s controller. The robot still made a successful climb at the end of the match. The Red Al-
liance won the match.
The team’s third and final round was match number 81 on the Red Alliance. There
were no problems with the robot, and once again, the robot made a successful climb. It was
another close match; however, the Blue Alliance took the win with a lead of only four points.
After all matches were complete, all teams had one member act as a representative
for their team. The top eight teams would, at this time, choose what teams they wanted in their
alliance for finals. A chosen team can accept or decline an invitation. The WB 5041 CyBears
were not invited to an alliance. While disappointed that they were not selected by a team, they
were happy to find out that the 4859 Cybears made it to finals.
Colbert explained, “I feel sort of mixed at not being picked for an alliance. On one
side, I sort of felt like we would not get picked. Despiteus being the fourth most efficient team
at scoring balls at the competition, we did this utilizing the lower hub, which scored less than
a lot of teams using the upper hub. On the other hand, I was somewhat upset that we were not
chosen as we were very consistent in our accuracy and score.”
After packing up the pit, the team had lunch, then hopped on the bus and made their
way back to WB.
Kettler said, “I do hope that this year can be seen as a fresh start for the CyBears, al-
most as a rebirth, and that we continue to be a prime example of gracious professionalism”

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Pre-Competition...
This year's FIRST Robotics competition required students to build a robot with the
capability of gathering red- and blue-colored balls and climbing on monkey-bar type rungs.
The red and blue balls, called cargo, must be shot into a target in the center of the
playing field to earn points. And, at the end of the match, the robot must lift itself onto the Robotics team members work on automating their robot with Coach Matt Cain
monkey bars and hang until time runs out. The higher the robot climbs will score additional in a practice session the day before heading to the competition: Kayla Garrett,
points. Zeb Brown, Seth Cantrell (back), and Kollin Kettler. Photo by Karina Krall.
The team had until March 21 to finish construction.
Robotics Sponsor Matt Cain, now hosting for his ninth year, summarized the chal-
lenges the robot must meet and outlined how the students would meet those challenges.
To build the robot, the team bought parts from vendors such as AndyMark, VexPro,
and REVRobotics, and any parts they didn’t buy were fabricated and built by members of the
team.
At the beginning of the season, Kettler said, “We are still in the designing phase and
quickly moving to the construction phase. Plus, we are already working on some key projects
that would help us later.”
L. Hinkhouse and Kettler primarily wrote software and code to control the robot.
Though, whoever wanted to contribute and learn about the codework was allowed. Almost
every member had a hand in the design and fabrication of the robot mechanisms and acces-
sories.
Kettler said, “I usually work with the code quite a bit, but I also lend a hand with the
building part of the bot, so I'm sort of a jack-of-all-trades.”
There were other necessary jobs as well, such as constructing bumpers, shirt and but-
ton design, shop-space management, and fundraising. These jobs were completed in small
groups.
The robotics team tried out a new type of bumpers this year. Instead of four red and
blue bumpers to cover the corners of the robot, which must be removed and attached after each
match in a competition, the team tried reversible bumper covers, which were developed by
freshman Keaton Norfleet, assisted by freshman Kayla Garrett. Coach Matt Cain, Cole Cantrell, and
Freshmen Zeb Brown, Seth Cantrell, and Elliot Hinkhouse created a scale model of
the central hub’s lower hoop, and senior Kody Regennitter built a scale model of one of the Kody Regennitter make sure the robot Matt Colbert check the height capabil-
monkey bar rungs. This was to make programming the robot easier, since the robot would have can raise itself up and hold itself in po- ities of the robot’s delivery system.
a small playing field for drive and function testing. sition for a certain amount of minutes. Photo by Karina Krall.
Seniors Cole Cantrell, Colbert, L. Hinkhouse, and Kettler designed a new intake sys- Photo by Karina Krall.
tem that doubled as a shooter; this intake could be raised and lowered to pick up and shoot
cargo. Senior Tanner
Colbert said, “I feel like we were quite productive this season, and we were not put- Harrison makes
ting off things that needed to be done until the last minute. I feel like we have had a good mix some repairs,
of veterans and rookies working on both major and minor things. I feel very confident in our helped by sen-
ior Cole Can-
trell. Photo by

The Down Under

Keaton Norfleet.

Food & Beverages Seniors Kollin

Kettler, Matt
102 W. Main St., Colbert, & Luis
Hinkhouse CyBear drivers successfully navigate
West Branch, IA 52358 work on the
robot’s technol-
the robot to a large cylinder and de-
posit both red balls into it. Photo by
(319) 530-9006 ogy. Photo by
Keaton Norfleet.
Keaton Norfleet.