Our Mascot: Sine, the Fighting Calculator

FIRST^® Robotics Competition Team 2175, the Fighting Calculators, is a robotics team consisting of students in grades 9-12 from the Math and Science Academy in Woodbury, Minnesota. Since its founding in 2007, the team has had about 20 to 25 members. In 2010, we were joined by two new teams in Woodbury: Team 3130, the ERRORs, from East Ridge High School, and Team 3206, Robo-Sapiens, from Woodbury High School. In 2011, Park High School started Team 3883, the Data Bits. We share shop space with the ERRORs and work together on various projects.

The team is also heavily involved in the FLL^® program for 6th to 9th graders at MSA. Many new team members have FLL^® experience, and many current team members mentor FLL^® teams. Every summer, the team does demos at Woodbury Days and the Minnesota State Fair.

Team History

In our debut year of 2007, the game was Rack and Roll™. The objective was to strategically place inflatable rings on a metal rack and/or lift robots off the ground to score points. Our robot was primarily defensive, preventing other teams from placing rings. We were very successful at the Wisconsin Regional Competition. Our team placed 2nd out of 52 teams with our alliance partners 930 an 2039, winning the Regional Finalist Award. We also took home the Highest Rookie Seed Award.

The 2008 game was Overdrive™, and involved racing around a track and lifting 40" trackballs over a 7' rack. Our robot was very maneuverable and could move the trackballs up and down with a pneumatic arm. We competed in the first ever Minnesota regional, in Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota. We went 3-5-1 in the qualification matches and were selected to join the 6th seeded alliance with teams 2472 and 1756 in the elimination matches. We defeated the 3rd seeded alliance and then lost in the semi-finals.

In 2009, FIRST^® surprised us with a unique game called LUNACY™. Every robot was required to use the same hard slippery wheels on a hard slippery floor called "regolith", simulating the Moon's low gravity and traction. Our robot, aptly named "Box o' Rocks", was built out of plywood and shot the moonrocks from the top into the opposing alliance's trailers. That year, the number of teams in Minnesota nearly doubled, so there were two regional events in Minnesota: 10,000 Lakes and the North Star Regional. We participated in the North Star Regional. Teams 171 and 525 picked us to ally with them as the 8th seeded alliance. We defeated the 1st seeded alliance and then lost to the 4th seeded alliance in the semi-finals.

BREAKAWAY™ was the 2010 FRC^® game. The field was divided into 3 sections by two large bumps. There were 12 soccer balls which could be scored in goals at each corner. In the center of each bump was a tower from which robots could hang at the end for extra points. We built a six-wheeled robot that could cross the bumps safely, score soccer balls with a roller and kicker mechanism, and hang from the tower with a pneumatic arm. It was named "The Multiplier" in reference to the large structural X on the back. We again competed in the North Star Regional, this time joined by our new friends, Teams 3130 and 3206. We also applied for the Chairman's award for the first time. Team member Aren Siekmeier was named a Dean's List Finalist at the North Star Regional.

In 2011, FIRST introduced us to the new game LOGOMOTION™^®. The goal was to bring triangular, circular, and square tubes across the open field and place them on a rack to make FIRST logos. At the end of the match, teams deployed minibots to race up poles for bonus points. Our robot featured an elevator with a pneumatic gripper that could reach all rack positions and pick up tubes from the floor. For the drivetrain, we tried something new, called "Slide Drive," with four omni wheels in a standard tank configuration plus a fifth pointed sideways in the middle, giving us 3 degrees of freedom. Our minibot deployment had a spring-loaded fork for self-alignment on the tower, and it's appearance lent itself to our robot's name, Scorpion. We competed at the North Star Regional, where we were semifinalists as the number 5 seed with 1816 and 1652, and the Championship in St. Louis, where we came in 52^nd place out of 88 teams in Archimedes division. Mentor Will Preska recieved the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award at the North Star Regional.

View all of our team's matches from 2007 to present here.

Go here for an archive of FRC^® games and rules since 2002.