Annette Truefeldt-Franck, Nederland. In 2004, Team 1584 began sailing the seas of competition under the guidance of Randy Sachter and founding mentors. Our small, rural community has fielded a team for 16 years to compete in the FIRST® Robotics Competition’s (FRC) Colorado Regional where they make alliances with teams from across the country and the world. The regional hosts 52 teams which gives our students the opportunity to connect as well as compete.

WHAT BE OUR HISTORY?

The pirates FRC Team 1584 has offered students in the Peak to Peak region the opportunity to participate in a professional-level, engineering project; learning skills that are taught at the college level and used in industry. There’s also opportunity for middle level students to join. Some of our team members have been with the team for seven years by the time they graduate.

1584 team members have the opportunity to earn Independent Study Credits, an Activity Varsity Letter and since 2014 a scholarship upon graduation.

Along with the more academic parts of being a Pirate, students shine by being on a team, learning conflict resolution and leadership skills, having the opportunity to learn from mentors who share a wealth of professional knowledge, learning how to use creative and design skills to problem-solve under pressure during an insane project timeline. 

FRC is a brand that is recognized in academia and the larger professional and business world. Alumni have benefited from having FRC Team 1584 on their resumes; helping gain them access to jobs, scholarships and college admission. Additionally, each of our students has benefited by being part of the team, learning job skills they can take into the world, giving them advantage when they do reach college or work on professional projects.

Over the years alumni from the team have gone on to school locally at CU Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Front Range Community College, Metro State University, Mesa College and nationally at Embry Riddle, University of Hawaii, Carnegie Mellon and 2 to MIT!  These bright, curious and dedicated students have gone on to become engineers, agriculture innovators, artists, employees of NASDAQ, Medtronic and other firms.

The team operates as a level 3, student-lead activity out of Nederland Middle Senior High School. The team has been managed by Randy Sachter, parents whose students are in the team and then those who’s students have long graduated. We have had school staff sponsors; Randy Sachter ’05 to ‘14, Dan Wade ‘18 and Lori Ledbetter ’19 &’20. We have had dedicated mentors, some staying with us for 16 years!  In the last four years the team has had to move out and back into the high school each summer. Storage was provided by team Mentors and with the gracious help of Nederland Food Pantry and the Indian Peaks Radio Club. In 2018, They moved into a garage that a local businessman graciously donated for their use and with NederNet, Inc. providing internet service they were in business for one more season. This year, the team was able to move back into a storage space at the high school and, with use of the new workshop and long-distance learning classroom, the team was able to prepare for this season’s challenge; INFINITE RECHARGE. 

CHANGES AFOOT

Fortunately: Seeking team management stability and greater grant-writing opportunities, the team will be leaving the high school hoping to find a new home with TEENS, Inc. Unfortunately: Due to the world-wide’ Kraken’ of Covid19, all future plans are now on hold.

This year’s robot, named P1R4735, is built to gather balls and convey them to a shooter. The shooter is able to deliver balls to a target port 7 feet high. The distance range of the shooter is between 40ft and 10feet from the target.  At the end of each match the robot will lift itself off the ground by using a spring-loaded set of telescoping arms to attach to a swinging bar that could be between 4 feet and 6.5 feet tall. A winch system lifts the robot off the floor and holds it aloft.

In addition to just hanging from the teeter-bar, the alliance gets more points if they can use their 2-3 hanging robots to keep the bar balanced. 

Every year the team challenges themselves with a sophisticated and complex robot design. Every year students learn new skills that will help them as they go on to college or the workplace. This season, the chassis group began by using AutoCAD to design the robot’s chassis and drive system. They then learned about machine coding and how to use a CNC and other professional machines at a mentor’s shop to fabricate these parts. The team usually fabricates their own robot parts using hand tools and simple machines like drill presses and bandsaws. This year, with the expert help of their new mentor, Mark, they were able to upgrade and use more modern, professional machines. The team designed and fabricated wheel hubs, pulleys, chassis and superstructure elements, the climbing motor mount and redesigned the climbing gearbox.

DULDRUMS 

Pirates be becalmed at sea. On March 12,2020, one week before competition, BVSD made a wise decision to end activities. The Pirates were in the final stages of preparation for competition and all work came to an abrupt halt. As other teams at the school had to deal with the cessation of work, so the Pirates did too. It remains to be seen whether they will be able to use their robot before the beginning of school next year. The team put in an extraordinary effort, some put in 200+ hours of work, dealing with long bouts of sickness on team members parts, snow delays and then Covid-19. It feels like a letdown to have this be the last year that the Pirates are associated with the high school. Such is the life of us scallywags. We learn to roll with the waves and sail on.

PIRATES SHARE THEIR BOOTY

During this time of isolation and distancing the Pirates, FIRST ® Robotics Team 1584, have come forward to help their community. They purchased hand sanitizer to be used at the competition’s administration and safety glasses tables. When competition was canceled, they donated these supplies to their own community to acknowledge the hard work and safety risks that local stores and service providers put themselves in during this time. The team also purchased two utility carts for the Nederland Food Pantry so that they can more easily handle the increased poundage of food distributed to the community. We Pirates be happy to share our booty! The team’s lead mentor distributed the goods while the Pirates stayed marooned on their own home islands.

PIRATE PARTY POSTPONED -SAYING GOODBYE TO NMSHS

For our end o’ season Pirates gather’n there was a plan to celebrate the 16 years of tenure at the high school. As we all be sailing uncharted waters, this be waitin’ for landfall. 

The team would like to end this article by thanking our Alumni, Mentors, Parents, and Sponsors, as well as the Peak to Peak Community for their help and support for the past 16 years.

(Originally published in the April 23, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)