Ferradermis Alliance Places Third in Rockford

Posted on: July 28, 2024

Thirty-three robots from Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri, including Ferradermis from Whitewater High School, took to the field at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois on Saturday, July 27, for R2OC, the Rockford Robotics Offseason Competition.

Each offseason event typically connects a community service project with their competition, and this week it was donations of canned food and toiletries for the Rockford Rescue Mission. Maddi LaHaie and Elora Wildermuth-Breitzman were happy to drop off Ferradermis’ contribution with the event organizers.

Elora Wildermuth-Breitzman and Maddi LaHaie drop off the team’s collection of canned food and toiletries for the Rockford Rescue Mission with one of the event organizers.

Chief Lee the Tangerine, the Ferradermis 2024 robot, has now played over 80 competitive matches since it was completed in February, and the wear and tear is starting to take a toll on the bot. This showed on Saturday as structural portions of the robot needed to be replaced or repaired between many of the matches, but the pit crew was up to the challenge and came prepared with spare parts. Chief Lee the Tangerine will see two or three more competitions this summer and fall before it becomes a demo-only bot, but Ferradermis is also building a second robot that should be ready for competition in August.

Students working in the pit throughout the day included Andrew O’Toole, Erison Dreksler, Ace Hudec, Kay Mikos, Cooper O’Neal, Vivian Harris, and Elora Wildermuth-Breitzman alongside mentors Mark Zimmermann and Paul Kriegel. Kriegel is one of the team’s newest mentors and works as an engineer for Bobcat in Johnson Creek. He also brings a great deal of FIRST Robotics experience to the team as he was a team captain for RoboRiot out of Sheboygan when he was in high school. The team is always open to new mentors who can share their knowledge and experience with students when it comes to CAD, machining, mechanical work, programming, electrical work, business, writing, video editing, graphics, public relations, community outreach, and much more. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please reach out to advisor Laura Masbruch at lmasbruch@wwusd.org.

Each team is designated a 10′ x 10′ area known as their pit where they can work on their robot throughout the day.

Ferradermis was led onto the field on Saturday by Driver Andrew O’Toole, Operator Kay Mikos, Human Player Erison Dreksler, Technician Vivian Harris, and Drive Coach Mark Zimmermann. They were often joined on the field by Team Media Representative Isabella Cohen to get some up close photography. The team went 4-1 in their morning matches, ranking 6th at the end of qualification matches.

Planning a solid match strategy with alliance partners is key to success on the field as all matches are played 3 on 3.

The top 8 ranking placed Ferradermis in a position to select their own alliance for the elimination round. Andrew Zimmermann, Chacha Binagi, and Margaret Brown had been working in the stands all morning to gather qualitative data on other robots and video matches for reference. Andrew Zimmermann then took the field as our Alliance Selection Representative and moved into the Captain’s spot for the #4 Alliance when two different pairs of teams ranked ahead of us agreed to join forces for the playoffs. Zimmermann invited Team 4655 Stateline Robotics from Honenegah Community High School in Illinois to join the Ferradermis alliance, and then together they selected Team 2039 Rockford Robotics, a community team from Rockford, to join the alliance as well. In a unique twist to alliance selections, the 8 highest ranked unselected teams drew numbers from a hat to become the 4th member of each alliance. All 4 robots on each alliance were required to play in at least one playoff match. Our 4th alliance member was Team 3352 Flaming Monkeys 4-H Robotics Club from Boone County, Illinois.

Alliance selections are always followed by a captain’s meeting during which a team must be represented by a member of their drive team. R2OC provided an event hat to each captain so officials knew which individual could speak on behalf of each alliance.

Ferradermis’ strategy was to play their 4th alliance partner immediately in their first match of the double elimination playoffs, and they fell to the #5 seeded alliance 87-52. Moving into the lower portion of the playoff bracket, the Ferradermis alliance next defeated the #8 seed 64-54 followed by the #2 seed 90-65. This led to a rematch with the #5 seed, which the Ferradermis alliance won 72-65. The day for Ferradermis came to an end in the third-place match when they fell to the eventual champions, the #3 seeded alliance captained by Team 2338 Gear it Forward from Oswego, Illinois, 95-74. Ferradermis finished the day with a 7-3 record.

Ferradermis appreciates all those who traveled to cheer us on, including recent grad Cosette Wildermuth-Breitzman and multiple parents, as well as those who follow the team online. The team will next take to the field in Eau Claire on August 17, but you can find them at the Whitewater City Market on August 6 as well. New members continue to be welcome; the team is open to any Whitewater High School student as well as home-schooled students residing within the physical boundaries of the school district.

Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor
lmasbruch@wwusd.org