ROCORI Varsity Robotics wins Innovation in Control Award

The ROCORI High School Robotics team 4728 ROCORI Ratcheteers brought home the Innovation in Control Award from the Lake Superior Regional FIRST Robotics Competition in Duluth. The 2023 FIRST Robotics Competition – Charged Up is played in 6 weeks of regional competitions around the world. The Ratcheteers competed against 60 teams for an invite to the Championships in Houston Texas and an invite to the Minnesota State High School League Robotics Tournament in May. The ROCORI team ranked 6 of 60 teams with 7 wins and 2 loses in qualification. The team was selected by the third alliance made up of Wayzata High School’s Trojan Robotics and Ely Memorial School’s Iron Mosquitos. In Playoffs the team placed 4th of the 8 alliance teams and earned the judged award of Innovation in Control. Their next event is the North Star Regional in Lacrosse Wisconsin on March 25th.

“Every time we meet, every time we have a competition, everything we do just brings us closer together. It’s not just a club but like a family because we rely on each other,” Cal Athmann senior team member.

The ROCORI FIRST Robotics team was started in 2013. Coach Jay Femrite with Coach Riley Donat lead the team with mentor Ryan Dockendorf and several others from local schools and manufacturers. FIRST Robotics Competition tasks the team to design, build, program a robot in 6 weeks and then operate it during head-to-head competition in an alliance format. This years team includes Cal Athmann (human player and safety captain), Caleb Donat (drive team and CNC operator), Zach Reitmeier (technician and programing), Silas Ruffi (CAD design and drive coach), Liam Zenner (programming and drive team). While participating in FIRST Robotics, team members learn Java coding, engineering, computer aided drafting, CNC operation and practical thinking skills. Interested students and parents should visit our website www.rocorirobotics.com and email us at frc4728@gmail.com or just visit us in the high school metal shop after school.