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The Lightning Turtles are a local team with FIRST Robotics, housed as an extracurricular activity at Two Rivers High School. The students design, code, and build a fully functioning robot, enter competitions, and share their process.
See their robot in action:
Turtle Basics
FIRST Robotics has organized robotics competitions since 1992, and the Lightning Turtles have participated since 2009. Outside of FIRST competitions, the Lightning Turtles also participate in off-season competitions.
All their robots are named after turtle species, and this year’s is called Snapper. Previous robots include Diamondback, Snakeneck, and Flatback.
The team is relatively small compared to its competitors, and they divide their work into divisions:
- Build: The physical construction of the robot.
- Programming: The internal coding of the robot.
- Design: The blueprinting layout of the robot and crafting the pieces needed.
- Media: The online presence and advertising of the program.
“It’s an extracurricular for any type of person,” said Gray Gallant, the design team lead and media co-lead. “All the people here are here because they want to be here.”
Gallant designed an award-winning animation representing the Lightning Turtles in February of this year. It won first place in the FIRST Robotics 2024 Digital Animation Award competition.
You can see more videos of the team’s work on their YouTube channel.
The team receives their funding through sponsors and fundraisers that vary from year to year.
What Is a Robotics Competition?
As FIRST Robotics describes it: “Under strict rules, limited time and resources, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team ‘brand,’ hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors.”
The aim of the program is to boost youth interest and engagement with science and engineering while providing a supportive environment to cultivate their confidence and leadership skills.
FIRST Robotics competition criteria changes from year to year. This year’s theme is Crescendo, where teams score points by picking up rings called “notes” and depositing them in various spots throughout the map. However, the goal is not always to score the most points.
What’s Next?
The Lightning Turtles have opted to take on a more supportive role in hopes that they will be recruited by the team captains—the eight highest-scoring teams in the tournaments—into an alliance. It is as much competition as it is collaboration between teams, and strategy goes beyond the robots themselves.
The team recently competed in a Duluth tournament where they placed 25th. A part of the robot was damaged. They have worked to repair and improve its function for an upcoming competition in Minneapolis, taking place April 5-6, 2024.
More: You can learn more and follow along on the Lightning Turtles website.
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