Building a Better Bot

07/21/2009

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By DWAYNE BUTLER
Daily News Staff

TOWN OF POLK — The conclusion of the Washington County BotsIQ competition, in which teens design and build robots in order to destroy all other robots, featured quite a border battle.

Despite a mechanical problem which delayed the championship match, Slinger High School’s Sumthin’ Special defeated Grafton High School’s Rambler 2 on opening night of the Washington County Fair on Tuesday.

Sumthin’ Special went undefeated in the 10-team competition. A second Slinger High representative, Up Chuck, garnered third place.

Slinger senior Mike Ziegelbauer gave a thumbnail sketch of Sumthin’ Special’s design. “It’s a drum that spins and hopefully will pick up the other robots and do damage,” he said. Bound for Moraine Park Technical College after just graduating from Slinger High School last month, Ziegelbauer has relished the experience of being a part of this program the last three years. He plans to study manufacturing in college.

“There’s a lot of teamwork, there’s electrical, machining, problem solving,” he said. “It’s pretty much everything.” Asked about what he enjoys most about this type of competition, Ziegelbauer gave a straightforward response. “I enjoy destroying other robots,” he said.

In its second year, the BotsIQ competition took place in front of an enthusiastic crowd that filled four sets of bleachers inside a large tent on the grounds. The competition was similar to the popular “BattleBots” TV show. “This is a great event for the schools in the area to get involved with and showing off the different phases of manufacturing,” Economic Development/Washington County President Doreen Buntrock said.

Administrative Assistant Tuti Saysana says the event combines a number of skills, including science,technology, engineering, manufacturing and math.” “This is where they learn,” she said. “It’s more hands-on, more teamwork. They’ve got to be really quick on their feet. It’s amazing to see.” The goal of the program is simple. “We want to get the kids into manufacturing,” said Allen Weiss, the owner of Integrity Wire EDM, Inc. “Wisconsin is home for manufacturing, and they claim that in the next 10 years a lot of people will be leaving manufacturing and you need kids to replace them.”

The strategy of the competition is simple, too. “It’s kind of a boxing match. You get three minutes in the (glass-enclosed) rink. It’s based on your drive ability, your aggressiveness and damage,” Weiss said.

This year’s event featured four more schools than a year ago. Washington County representatives included
Germantown High School (Flippin’ Widow Maker), Hartford Union High School (Shocko) and Kettle Moraine
Lutheran High School (Death Melon and Allie).