Driven by Excellence

Wentzville’s Ratchet Rockers Were Finalists at STL’s FRC Regional

Arianna Amann, Reporter| March 21, 2018

Photo provided by the Ratchet Rockers

Senior Joey Flynn and Junior Ian Deal hold up their hands in a rockin’ position while the Ratchet Rockers are announced before the start of a match.

The Wentzville’s FIRST robotics team, 1706 aka the Ratchet Rockers, competed at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis at the St. Louis First Robotics Competition (FRC) Regional on March 8-10.

By the end of week two of competitions, their robot Scorpion was ranked No. 5 in Missouri.

“We have a really good auto thanks to Joey [Flynn]. It puts us ahead of the game,” senior Jacob Clark said, the Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) and Strategy lead. “We also have a really good gripper, so we have really good control over the cubes when we get them.”

Scorpion lifts a cube onto the scale during autonomous mode.                  Photo provided by the Ratchet Rockers

By the end of qualifications on Saturday, the Ratchet Rockers were ranked 4th out of 49 competing teams from all across the midwest, with a record of 11-5-0.

“We even got compliments from the number one and the number three seed that we were one of the best robots there. The number one team actually said that they would’ve picked us if they’d scouted on Saturday,” Clark said.

They powered through quarterfinals and semifinals, and were only defeated in the finals, by the first seed alliance.

“We were fantastic in St. Louis. Saturday we knocked it out of the park with every match we won,” Clark said.

Scorpion holds up two alliance robots to defeat the boss.                            Photo provided by the Ratchet Rockers

Their success in St. Louis wasn’t luck, but skill. Their drive team, the team of students who controlled the robot, were just as well oiled as their machine.

“The driver drives the wheels, the operator does everything that is not the wheels, the human player does whatever the human player does for the year’s specific game challenge, and the technician fixes the robot,” senior and operator Joey Flynn said.

When Scorpion took the field, the drive team took their positions.

“I tossed the cube onto the fields for our robot or any robot in our alliance so they could pick them up and put them into the switch, scale or vault,” senior Seth Tate said.

The members of the drive team include: Ian Deal, a junior at Holt; Suzie Altheimer, a sophomore at Liberty; Joey Flynn, a senior at Liberty; and Seth Tate, a senior at Liberty.

The Ratchet Rockers are made of 50 students from Holt, Timberland, and Liberty. Their next competition is at the FIRST Midwest Regional Qualifier in Chicago, IL, April 5th-7th. They will be attending the World Championship in Huston, April 19th-21st.