Cass County students aim for world championship in robotics competition

Yahoo

06-04-2025

A crowd gathered in the bleachers of Center Grove High School's auditorium Friday afternoon to watch some fierce competition.
It wasn't a moment of basketball-induced Hoosier Hysteria, though. The crowd was there to watch the Indiana State Championship for FIRST Robotics.
Winners would go on to compete at the World Championship in Huston, Texas, where they'll likely go up against (or align with) teams from all over the U.S., as well as international teams from places like Israel, Australia, Canada and Mexico.
Among the teams vying for a shot at the world championship was Wreckless Robotics, composed of Logansport and Lewis Cass students.
At the beginning of each match, robots have to move autonomously. After the first few seconds, human drivers are able to take over. Points are scored by placing pieces of PVC pipe on a tiered frame (with more points awarded for pieces placed on taller tiers) and by placing a 16-inch diameter playground ball between the tiers or tossed into a net that hangs above the field.
Just before the match ends, teams are able to score more points by hanging from a cage on a chain.
Going into a lunch break Friday, the Cass County team was ranked 25th, with one win and two losses.
The first game back, shortly after 3 p.m., the robot spun into action during the automated period, immediately placing pipe on the highest rungs of the tiered, coral-shaped frame.
With 90 seconds left, the robot got a piece stuck in one of its mechanisms. Instead of fretting about the mishap, the drivers steered the robot to prevent the opposing alliance from scoring more points.
As the game wrapped up, the Wreckless Robotics creation was able to hang suspended off the ground.
The victory lifted the team to 19th place, with more opportunities to climb further in the rankings. By 5 p.m., the team had secured a ranking in 12th place.
Data compiled by teams across the world predicted the Cass County team would finish the state competition in eighth place, meaning it would qualify for the world championship.
Just before loading the team's robot into a bus headed for Greenwood on Thursday, the students were optimistic about their chances at the state championship.
Scott Loman, a Logansport senior on the robotics team, explained the team seems to do better at each new competition.
During the first competition, he explained, the team had a few communication hiccups with other teams.
Each match sees a three-team alliance face off against another three-team alliance. Leaders at the competition get to choose who will be in their alliance, so communication with other teams can be crucial.
'The issues weren't necessarily from us, but working with other teams,' Loman said. 'The first one's always a little rougher on the edges, because you still have to figure out what the other team's bots are capable of. By the second one, we know generally. And especially this one coming up, we know what the other teams are capable of.'
The Logansport team's robot, though, had remained sturdy at competition. It won the Quality Award last weekend, meaning the robust build didn't have any problems.
That doesn't mean there weren't problems during the robot's development though.
For instance, the mechanism that lifts the robot at the end of each match broke twice during the robot's development. The destruction sheared rivets off the robot's arm.
'We've actually got battle scars from when we smashed the intake in,' Loman said. 'But because our robot is so durable, we've been able to take those and walk away.'
Many of the students have been on robotics teams since at least middle school. Several of the team members, such as eighth grader Ben Adams, are still in middle school.
Adams remembered going through dozens of iterations for one component before finally figuring out how to make it work.
He said it was 'very relieving' to get the final mechanisms installed.
'I don't know about the other guys, but being able to build the robot is a lot of fun,' Loman said, explaining why he's been on robotics teams since fifth grade. 'Going through all the failing and then doing it again because we test out different ideas.'
The senior noted several pieces of bent steel and aluminum that marked modifications to the robot's climber.
'Trying it and then finally succeeding with it was so much fun,' he said.
Another senior, Michael Popson, seemed to agree.
'I just love robotics as a whole,' Popson said, later explaining he's stepped away from other hobbies to prioritize robotics. 'It's my No. 1 activity.'
'The thing I love about robotics is in a world where everything shows you … everything's got to be perfect — you've got to do the perfect this, perfect that — robotics show you just the opposite,' one of the team's mentors Matthew Snoeberger said. 'Your imperfections are what make you better.'
While the team does fairly well at competitions, Snoeberger, it could use a bit of help from the community.
Motioning around a cramped Logansport High School classroom where the team meets, programs the robot and tries to test it, he explained the team doesn't have enough space to practice for competitions. Instead, the team travels to a facility in Kokomo every now and then for 10-hour practice days.
'If there's somebody who has any warehouse space around that wants to give us part of it, that's our big need right now,' he explained. 'A lot of teams either have a full field that they're messing with, or they have a half field they're messing with.'
The Cass County team will continue to vie for a spot in the world championship on Saturday. A livestream can be found online at thebluealliance.com/team/5402/2025.