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The CDH Robotics Team Enters New Season

by Jeff Winsor, Robotics Coach
February 7, 2023

The CDH robotics team “Wind Chill” is led by our captains Riley Klaus ‘24, Michael Loeffler ‘24, and MJ Dougherty ‘25. They are showing exceptional leadership skills by keeping the team on task during the tight timeline of the robotics build season.

Our team competes in two events each year; one “away” event and one “home” event. This year, we’ll be in Lacrosse Wisconsin and the Williams Arena at the U of M. Both of these competitions are FIRST Robotics Competitions, which are worldwide competitions for high school students, focused on introducing students to STEAM skills through a team-based competitive atmosphere, quite similar to a sporting event. Dean Kamen is the inventor of the Segway and one of the founders of FIRST, and he has a saying “I don't use kids to build robots. I use robots to build kids.” All of these events are free, open to the public, and a fantastic place to bring families!

Each year brings a new robot and new challenges for the CDH Robotics team. A big advancement for our team this year is a new style of drive called swerve drive. It has four wheels that are each able to spin 360 degrees while moving. This is the first year our team has used this and it represents a significant jump in robot agility on the field as well as technical skill for the team.

In addition to the ability of the robot to complete the game tasks, standing out through marketing and branding are also critical to a team’s success. In 2020, we unveiled our new brand, Wind Chill, and in large part the rebranding and the enthusiasm of our team won us the Team Spirit award at both competitions last year when we returned for an in-person season.

Robotics competitions are unique. It’s hard for many people to understand that when one team’s robot breaks, other teams scramble to provide support and help them get back on the field before their next match. Every year it’s a toss up whether we’ll have made a competitive robot or not, but I can say that the skills and confidence the students build while competing and learning through failures and successes will serve them well in the future.

Dougherty, one of the team captains, wants to make sure not to lose focus of the community aspect of the team. “We moved into this season with the purpose of growing the team’s engineering abilities, building our brand at competition, and always making sure we are more of a family than a club at the end of the day.”