Battle of the Bots: D-NH Robotics Club gears up for Regional Tournament

DIKE – For the past several months, the students of the Dike-New Hartford High School Robotics Club have put in hundreds of hours of work, tinkering and toiling to create the perfect robot.
This weekend, all of their hard work will be put to the test as they enter their robot in the Regional First Robotics Competition in Cedar Falls, where they will battle against 60 other teams from the Midwest, and even a few teams from China and Brazil. If they do well, the group will have a shot at competing in the World Robotics Competition in St. Louis in April.
The team – which consists of 17 different students, three professional mentors and two coaches – is still relatively new to the robotics game, but what they lack in experience, they more than make up for in enthusiasm and determination.
“When we started out last year, we had a power drill and a hack saw,” said Robotics Club co-coach Joanna Seymour. “We were a bit limited. This year, we have a shop space (donated by Mike Albers) and we have some mentors who have better engineering knowledge who can really help translate all the students’ good ideas into something that works.”
Seymour said it’s been incredible to see how much the club has evolved since last year, and how far the students have come.
“Last year, our robot basically just rolled,” said Ben Purdy, a second-year D-NH Robotics Club member. “But after experiencing the competition, we knew what we wanted to do for next year. Now, our robot can do everything.”
For the full story, see this week's Grundy Register.
 
Any community members interested in showing their support to the D-NH Robotics Club can come cheer the group on at the Regional Tournament this weekend. The competition will be held Friday and Saturday at the McLeod Center and UNI Dome in Cedar Falls. Admission is free. Teams will compete from 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. on Friday, and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. For more information about the event, visit https://robotics.uni.edu/