The parking lot at Minot North High School was mostly vacant as most students were enjoying their March spring break time. An exception to the rule was at Door 19 on the Northeast corner of the building. Quite a group of vehicles were parked there as the robotics club known as the Syber Sentinels gathered around computers and what appeared to be an extra-large collection of wheels, aluminum and electronic parts.
As I walked forward one of the young men must have seen the questioning look on my face as he quickly said “Hello Sir. Are you from the Northern Sentry?” I gave them a shake of the head and he quickly responded with “I want you to meet Sentibot. We’re working on a few things, so we have it up here on the workbench.”
It all made perfect sense that a club named the Syber Sentinels would be in a workshop area paying a lot of attention to their robot project. The Northern Sentry had been given a tip from Col. John Burrell of the 5th Operations Group that not only did the Syber Sentinels construct a robot, but the weekend before the interview had been in a robotics competition in Duluth, Minnesota and had been named the All Star Rookie team at the Northern Lights Regional First Robotics Competition.

Col Burrell’s older son, Will, had been in on an FRC (First Robotic Competition) team when they were in Virginia “we got here and with the new Minot North High School it seemed like a perfect time to start a team right here” according to Col Burrell who is one of the advisor/mentors for the Syber Sentinels. “We are responsible for being mentors and probably more important to get sponsors and donations for the team. So far we’ve been able to collect about $50,000.00 so that the team can travel to competitions like we just had in Duluth” Burrell continues “and I am sure you can imagine that there’s quite a bit of expenses when you consider travelling to Duluth with 16 team members.”
Instructor Byron Borgen introduced me to a couple of team members freshmen Izzie Burrell and Senior Scott Tollefson.
Izzie Burrell explained that “first you have to get registered as a team, and then you join a group like FRC, which is what we are doing. The experience teaches students how to do STEM (Science, Technology, Electronics & Math) and later how to apply and get scholarships at colleges for engineering…it’s pretty cool.”
When asked about interest in engineering Tollefson explained that he was more “on the carpentry side.” As with any team there are different interests and skills that make up the team “we have about 15 on the team and 5 mentors.”
Minot (North) has never had a First Robotics team, and once the team was registered they received a starter kit for building their robot. It didn’t take long for the team to make the decision to start ordering parts “like we ordered an elevator so we can hit different levels. We based our design off of another team, adding our own improvements along the way and I guess that’s kind of how we got the robot we have now” according to Izzie Burrell. Did their design come out kind of how they thought it would. Both Burrell and Tollefson laughed and said “No…” Burrell added “it is completely different.”
Looking at the current robot, I was amazed at the number of moving parts, but according to Tollefson “we started building our robot in January. We got kind of a late start.”
Not knowing what to expect, the team headed for Duluth ready to compete with other teams, some with more members, most with a lot more experience. “It was basically a practice round for the next round, the regionals in Grand Forks” according to Burrell. “We really wanted people to notice us, and maybe they’re thinking that we’re good at this, or we need to improve on something.”
The students run the team according to Tollefson and Burrell, “but the mentors certainly help out when we need advice on things” says Tollefson.
How did the team get started? “Well, we moved here in the summer” said Burrell “so we went to our parents and knowing that we wanted a team they said that they would make it happen.”
When asked to explain a little more about competitions Burrell said “there is a drive team. There’s a coach, first driver, second driver, a human player and a technician. As with any mechanical competition, there can be issues and that is where Tollefson steps in “I’m the pit manager” and as such it is up to him to fix what goes wrong, if possible, and procure replacement parts in any way possible. “During the competition we burned up a motor and a team next to us said, hey, we’ve got a motor, and they gave it to us to use.” But that, according to Tollefson is what makes the competition so special. “We’re kind of in it together, and we help each other out. Everyone wants everyone else to do their best.”
Because the Syber Sentinels are a club, they welcome team members from other schools. “I’m from Minot High” shares Tollefson “but really any high school student could ask to join, and we’d welcome them.”
It was Will Burrell, now a senior at Minot North and Mikiyas Asmamaw, also a senior, who joined me next to talk about the Syber Sentinel. “It’s been 3 years total, including this year” says Will Burrell that he has been involved in the First Robotic Competitions, and Asmamaw was asked to join because of his programming experience “someone asked me if I wanted to come help with this robot, and that got me started learning a new programming language.”

Is Will Burrell surprised at the progress that the team has made based on where they are today? “Yes, I am surprised how far we managed to get and how much we’ve managed to pick up on and catch up with other teams. When we were in our first competition in Duluth we had members of other teams tell us they were surprised that we have come this far just starting in January and I kind of agree with them.”
Burrell is also quick to point out that every member of the team has their own expertise, and they have worked together greatly to achieve what they have done. “If it was just by me” he continues “we wouldn’t have gotten near as far.” Asmamaw adds that “we have people who were willing to learn new skills to make it work. People learned these skills, even if they had never done it before. It’s a special group of kids, and the stars kind of aligned when we all came together.”
Keeping team Syber Sentinels going requires being able to order from different stores that supply specialty robotic parts, and like any specialty stores. The mentors are responsible for continuing to raise money, and according to Col Burrell “we are short of our long term goal and could always use more sponsors to help these kids out.”
Forging ahead, and not looking back…that would seem to be important to a robotics team like the Syber Sentinels. Yes, there certainly is a lot of learning based on past experience, but every member of the team has the same dream, to be on the First Robotic Competition World Stage in Houston later on this year. With a little luck, and a lot of teamwork, that dream could certainly become a reality.