The 22nd season for Notre Dame robotics turned out to be one for the ages.
Members of Notre Dame’s Killer Bees robotics team are flying high after winning their third state championship.
Notre Dame’s Killer Bees, the school’s award-winning robotics team, just finished another highly successful season of competition. Jim Zondag, an engineer at FCA Chrysler and team leader for the Bees, checked in to define and explain how the team ended up with its third state championship along with a host of other wins and accolades during the 2017 season.
His first word was “wow,” which is a pretty good summation of the season and of the Bees. “It was another great season for our team,” he said. “And it was our 22nd year of competitive robotics.”
According to Zondag, the game challenge prescribed by FIRST Robotics at the beginning of the season was called “SteamWorks.” It’s a highly interactive three vs. three robot game involving gathering and scoring large plastic gears, shooting plastic whiffle balls into a goal, and climbing a rope with the robot, which was how teams could gain bonus points at the end of the each game.
“Our team of 41 students worked very hard to design and build another great robot,” he said. “The mentors and students worked together every day in January and February to create CAD models, fabricate parts, write software, install electronics, assemble systems, perform testing, and train for competition.”
The Bees pit crew is hard at work on this year’s FRC robot.
“These robots were very fast and very capable, and we had high hopes for the new season,” he said.
Key members of the team were also chosen before competition began, and the Bees tabbed as its “competition team” Notre Dame seniors Adam Calvaneso (driver), Cory Ness (operator), Mary Riss (pilot) and Laura Lund (human player). So it was all systems go for the Bees, who were very anxious to get the robot rolling in real competition.
Season begins in Southfield
The season started with the Southfield district competition. Zondag said the first event is always the hardest, but he believed both the robot and team were ready.
“We came out strong, going 11-1 in qualifying and getting ranked as the #1 seed after 12 rounds,” he said. “We formed an alliance with Birmingham High School and Brother Rice High School for the playoffs, and won the event setting a state-high score of 397 points. We also won the ‘Industrial Design Award’ for best robot design. This was actually the seventh year in a row that our team had won an season-opening event. The new season was off to a great start!”
Two weeks later, the Bees went to their second district event of the season, this time in Waterford. And once again, the team performed very well, scoring even better than Southfield.
Notre Dame’s robot performed very well during the 2017 season. Its tasks included gathering and scoring large plastic gears, shooting plastic whiffle balls into a goal, and climbing a rope.
The Bees did not go home empty-handed, though, as they won the “Innovation in Controls Award” for having the best software controls of all the robots. So with one gold, one silver, and two major awards in hand, the Killer Bees finished their official two Michigan district events ranked 6th overall in Michigan out of 451 teams. This put them in a great spot when they eventually got to the state championship, according to Zondag.
Heading across the border
This year, robotics in the province of Ontario, Canada, moved to a district robotics tournament format similar to Michigan and this change meant that there are now opportunities for inter-district play between the two regions (and countries). The Notre Dame team took advantage of this and arranged to play its third district event for the season, but this time in Windsor.
“It was a great tournament, with several of the big name Canadian teams attending,” Zondag said. “And once again, the Killer Bees were on top of their game. We finished in third place after 12 rounds of qualifying and were #1 draft again.”
Bees’ pilot, Mary Riss, says the team just won its third state championship.
The team did well in the Windsor playoffs along with two Canadian partners and finished in second place overall after a very close and competitive finals. The Bees also were awarded the “Creativity Award” for its “innovative design approach” to the game.
On to ‘states’
Next up was the 2017 Michigan robotics state championship, the penultimate competition for robotics teams in the state. This event was moved to Saginaw Valley State University this year and was expanded to become the largest robotics event ever held in Michigan. One-hundred-sixty teams from all over Michigan came to this three-day event, which was broken into four separate divisions of 40 teams.
The Killer Bees were slotted in the Dow Division alongside many other great teams, according to Zondag.
The Notre Dame team’s experience definitely paid off as the Bees played better than ever. Ranked #1 in the division after 12 rounds of qualifying, the Bees chose the Bloomfield Hills High School Bionic Blackhawks and the Bloomfield Hills International Academy Las Guerillas to be their alliance partners.
“This was a ‘neighborhood alliance’ with all three of our schools located within just a few miles of each other,” Zondag said. “It turned out to be a great partnership and our teams swept the playoffs, 6-0, taking home the division title. We also won the division-level ‘Industrial Design Award’ for having the best robot design.”
With Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder after the Killer Bees won the 2017 state title are, from left, seniors Adam Calvaneso, Laura Lund and Mary Riss.
“Our alliance was not to be denied,” Zondag said. “We won the semifinals easily and moved on to the finals to face Kalamazoo Team Strykeforce and their alliance in the finals. We took the finals in two rounds, ending with a 499–205 victory in match two for the event win and the state championship title!”
Zondag said it was an especially impressive win because it came against the very best teams in our state.
“This took the combined effort of our entire team,” he said. “And it’s the third time the Killer Bees have won the state championship in nine years! We finished the 2017 Michigan season ranked #1 overall in the state!”
Meet me in St. Louis
Finally, the Bees headed to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 2017 World Championships, which were held April 26-29 with 400 of the best teams from all over the world. Going into St. Louis, the Killer Bees were ranked #6 overall on the FRC top-25 world rankings, so the team had high hopes for success. There were many great matches in the qualifying rounds, and the Killer Bees were scoring better than ever before.
“We finished in the #2 spot at the end of qualifying in our division of 86 teams in St. Louis,” said Zondag. “We then partnered with teams from Canada, Minnesota, and New York for the playoffs. We played very well, but lost in the semifinals after two very close matches. However, we again were awarded the ‘Industrial Design Award’ for best robot design, this time at a championship level.”
Zondag noted that Team StrykeForce from Kalamazoo, who the Bees defeated in the Michigan state finals, went on to win the 2017 FIRST World Championship in St. Louis, which helped make it a great finish to a great event.
So in summing up the 2107 robotics season, Zondag said it was one of the Killer Bees’ best ever.
“I am truly amazed by the ability and dedication of all the students, mentors, and parents who make our team what it is,” he said. “A huge thanks to everyone who makes this possible. And now we prepare for next year.”
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