State Fair Showcase is Next Stop for MN FIRST Teams

July 25, 2010

By Ken S. and MN Regional Staff

The 2010 Minnesota State Fair is your next chance to see local FIRST Robotics teams in action. Look for FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition teams in Carousel Park during STEM Day, Thursday, August 26. Daily competitions for FRC teams will be held in the Education Building throughout the entire run of the fair, and there will be tournaments featuring FTC teams too.

Before you go, check out the latest photo of Prior Lake’s FIRST Tech Team, 3855-Tempered Steel. Not only did the team finish second in tournament play at the 2010 Championships in Atlanta, but a photo of the team in action there is a homepage feature on the updated FIRST website (http://www.usfirst.org/, click on button 4).

"This year was Magic!” said Joseph Passofaro, lead mentor for FRC Team 2169-KING TeC and FTC Tempered Steel. “Both our FTC and FRC teams did very well and more importantly they had a great time. We can only hope that we have a chance to go to St. Louis (site of Championships) next year."

All nine of the Minnesota FIRST teams attending the Atlanta competition carried a Minnesota banner into each match. This banner showcased all of the teams present in Atlanta in 2010, as well as highlighted Minnesota’s two FRC regional competitions and the Snow Drift FTC competition. The banner was created by members of FRC Teams 1816-The Green Machine, Team 2500-Herobotics, Team 2169-KING TeC, and FTC 2887-The Bucket Brigade.

FRC teams attending the Championships were: Team 1816-The Green Machine, Edina; Team 2169-KING TeC, Prior Lake; Team 2500-Herobotics, Minneapolis; Team2574-Robo Huskies, St. Anthony Village; Team 3038-ICE, North Branch; Team 3299-Warehouse Crew, Chaska; Team 2667-How ‘bout Dem Apples. Apple Valley. FTC teams were 2887-The Bucket Brigade, Edina, and 3855-Tempered Steel, Prior Lake. All of the teams even found a moment to gather for an All-Minnesota photo! Click here for a side view of our photo op, and here for a close up in front of the FIRST banner.

Patrick Henry’s Herobotics team, the largest FRC team in Minnesota with 54 members in 2010, won the Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional Engineering Inspiration Award, which gave them an opportunity to go down to Atlanta for the Championships, report several student members of the Minneapolis-based team. There, the team was challenged by team mentors to run a self-operated team led by all of the newest members of the team. All members felt supported in their efforts as they were thrust into the challenging, high-energy atmosphere of Championships. It made attending championships an impressionable experience for all members.