Whitewater High School’s FIRST Robotics Team #6574 Ferradermis completed their third and final regional competition for the 2022 season at the Seven Rivers Regional in La Crosse from March 30 – April 2. Teams traveled to the event from four states including Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and all over Wisconsin. Ferradermis’ robot, Chief of the Jungle, performed very well on the field, with the drive team of Elijah Grall, Andrew O’Toole, Jazmin Cederberg, and Calvin Baker. Brolin Cliver once again served as the team’s Safety Captain. The team finished ranked 5th out of 46 teams during qualifications, with an 8 – 3 match record. Rankings are based not only on the win-loss record, but also on tasks accomplished during matches.
The team ended qualifications with the 5th highest Offensive Power Rating (OPR), contributing an estimated average of nearly 39 points per match to their alliance’s score. The average winning score for an alliance was 70 points, so Ferradermis provided a lot of offensive power to each alliance of three robots to which they were randomly assigned for the qualification schedule.
During alliance selections for the playoffs, Ferradermis moved up to become captain of the #3 seeded alliance and invited Team 7619 – illumiBOTi from Manitowoc and Team 8700 – W.I.R.E.D from Waupaca to join their alliance. The scouting team of Shane Kinson, Peter Portwine, Emerson Dunham, Zoe Olson, Maddi LaHaie, Cosette Wildermuth-Breitzman, Andrew Zimmermann, and Arson Webster-Barczak had worked tirelessly throughout the event to gather data about other teams that helped Ferradermis make their decisions about whom to invite to their playoff alliance.
The Ferradermis-led alliance fell in the quarterfinals to the alliance of Team 4009 – Denfeld DNA Robotics from Duluth, Team 1306 – BadgerBots from Middleton, and Team 2977 – Sir Lancer Bots from La Crescent, Minnesota, winning the first match 65-62, but coming up just short in the other two of the best of three series, 51-57 and 69-72, after experiencing some technical problems with field communication.
Ferradermis will now begin the off-season portion of their schedule by celebrating Robotics Week this week at the high school. With many presentations and demonstrations already scheduled for the Spring, including the Rock Valley Conference Student Councils, UW-Whitewater’s Tech Savvy, and a day at the public library, Ferradermis members will have the opportunity to share what they’ve learned with Whitewater and surrounding communities. Ferradermis will take to the field again this summer with one-day competitions at Kettle Moraine High School, Mukwonago High School, and potentially in Manitowoc that will give younger members an opportunity to take on new roles. Students wishing to join the team, including incoming freshmen, should watch for information on the team’s annual summer boot camp.
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