Did you know the Minot Robotics team is made up of not only Minot AFB teens but also local teens from the city of Minot? This community team, known at Team #10173, is one of only seven active FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics teams within North Dakota. Through the team-based robotics programs, FIRST robotics prepares the youngsters with engineering and problem-solving skills that they can draw upon in situations they may encounter in the future.

An exciting development for Minot Robotics team #10173 is that they recently applied for the DoD STEM grant, which required at least a portion of the team to be affiliated with the DoD. They ended up receiving the grant which will benefit the entire team by helping with their funding for close to half of the season. Colonel John Burrell and his spouse Alicia Burrell are the lead mentors heading up the Minot Robotic Team #10173, their 17-year-old son Will and their 14-year-old daughter Izzie are also apart of the team.

The season typically begins in January and can run all the way through April. Students will be not only be competing for awards, but they will also be learning how to work together as a team, learning how to strategize, raising funding, learning to communicate better, and will also be learning about the concept of Coopertition. Coopertition is vital in FIRST robotics, it is about working together with the other robotics teams to help and inspire each other while at the same time also competing against them. Each Robotics team is randomly assigned partnerships for the three-on-three challenges with two other teams. They must work together to win although where it really gets tricky is the assigned partnered teams switch each match. Although the teams are all in competition with one another they also have to work together in the times they are partnered for a match. So during one match they need to work together and during another match they are again competing against each other.

Col. Burrell and Alicia Burrell further explained how a competition may look, “Typically, a team forms an alliance with two other teams, picked at random, to accomplish tasks for points. Each year is a different theme with different tasks which makes every year unique. A new robot must be designed to meet the challenge, making a more level playing field for old and new teams.”

Minot Robotics Team #10173 will be competing in a minimum of two tournaments during the 2024-2025 season. And if the team does well during the first two tournaments they may even advance to the regional championships! This year’s Robotics competition theme , which launches on January 4th, 2025 is called Reefscape. According to the First Robotics Competition, the 2025 Reefscape challenge will have teams using their engineering skills to strengthen one of the ocean’s most diverse habitats. (https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc)

When asked why having a Robotics team is so important, The Burrell’s both agree that “we need to instill an education related to science, technology, engineering and math in the next generation of teens. We use technology every single day. Your phone, the apps on it, laptops, smart home devices, GPS, etc. That technology was unimagined, yet someone designed it, built it, tested it. Minot teens can help design what comes next!”

The Burrell’s future plans for the Minot robotics team #10173 is to become a permanent part of Minot and for it to continue to provide Minot teens with an outlet even after they move away. The Burrell‘s hope for the future is that, “Maybe one day there won’t just be one team here, but multiple teams! This is our third time in the area and our eldest teen, Will, joined a FIRST Lego league in elementary school that was started by another military family on the base. This was his initial exposure to robotics and he just loved it. We actively sought out a team when we moved to Virginia and he found his place with like minded, creative, innovative individuals.”

In the upcoming months the Burrell’s will be holding a few interest meetings for anyone interested in joining the Minot Robotics team.

Teens interested in joining the team will not need to have any prior experience, however, they are required to be high schoolers between the ages of 14-18 years old.

Information about the Minot Robotics team: Facebook @Minot RoboticsTeam10173 or email minotfirstrobotics@gmail.com.