Practice rounds are an opportunity to get for teams to get their robots out on the field, get it communicating, and to get any glitches worked out. Sometimes, the strongest robots on competition day are not the strongest on practice day. What remains constant, however, is the enthusiasm of the participants as they guess who may be the most competitive moving ahead.
Alex Miraz, a senior on the Huskie Robotics team of Naperville North High School in suburban Chicago, says Pewaukee (Wis.) High School's Paradigm Shift has a robot to keep an eye on. "It is oddly shaped and I want to see if this is to their advantage or is a hinderance," Miraz said.
Other Huskie members formed impressions after gathering at the Duluth regionals
"King Tec (of Prior Lake, Minn.) made a good impression," said Jay Laxman, a 4-year member of the Huskies squad. Chiming in, senior Tim Siepmann said, "They have always had interesting robots."
And Huskie teammate Peter Irvine gave a nod to a home team, saying, "Duluth (East Daredevils) is a good team overall."
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Rory Held, a six-year mentor for Thunder Robotics in Northwood, N.D., also assessed the Daredevils during practice.
"I didn't have a good chance to look around but 2512 can shoot across the full court. Lower numbered teams can be suprising," Held said. "It is too early to tell as most teams don't use their strategy in the practice rounds."
Kathryn Haeska of Infinity's End in Lake City, Minn. was looking forward to success shooting on the practice field on Thursday.
"I'm hoping that this is a sign of what's to come," she said, "'cause we're really hoping we can make it to nationals this year."
Nicholas Olsen, a former team member who is now a mentor of Wave Robotics of the Oshkosh, Wis., Recreation Department, gave hint of a grudge match with King Tec.
"We want our redemption back," he said.
Colin Kealey-Swenson contributed to this report.
