Robotics team thanks mentors; support from private sector invaluable

The Chisago Lakes-North Branch FIRST Robotics Team 3038 will be participating in the 10,000 Lakes Regional competition at the University of Minnesota, Williams Arena, on March 28, 29, 30. This year’s competition is called "Ultimate Accent." Teams from around the nation designed robots to shoot frisbees and climb a tower.

Sixty four teams from around the nation will be competing with practice rounds on March 28 and qualification rounds all day Friday and Saturday morning with finals on Saturday afternoon. Team 3038 is in its fifth year of existence and is sponsored by St. Jude Medical Foundation. The event is free and spectators are invited to watch the competition in Williams Arena and also visit the pits in the Pavilion for an up close look at the more than 60 robots in the competition. Those wishing to visit the pit area must have closed toe shoes, no sandals of any type, and wear safety glasses.

Safety glasses are available free to spectators visiting the pit area. There is also an identical competition at Mariucci Arena at the same time. Team Leader Becky Leuer said, “The team is very excited to see what the robot can do in competition. It performed well at the scrimmage in February but the competition is much more physical with lots of pushing and shoving. Our drive team has had some very good practice so we are optimistic. We know we can score points and are hopeful that the random pairings with other robots in the competition will compliment what our robot can do." The team would like to thank St. Jude Medical Foundation along with Cummins and PTC for funding the 2013 season.

"St. Jude Medical Foundation has been with us since the beginning and without them Team 3038 would not exist. This year we were fortunate enough to pick up some additional funding from Cummins and PTC, " said Mentor Scott Frischmon. "One of our mentors, Tim Courant, works at Cummins and was instrumental in getting some funding from them. Over the past few years we have established some relationships with Pine Tech College and they were able to help us out some this year as well. Branch Manufacturing in North Branch is also helping us out with some of our promotional materials for our team and if the other teams like them as much as our team does, we will be a hit at the competition."