The Village Scrapbook: Nicolet Battle Bots Shrapnel and Victory

Tom Medved, photography teacher at , submitted these pictures from a Battle Bots competition that took place in November. Here's what Aviva Glassman, a student participant in the competition, had to say about the event:

On Nov. 12, Nicolet’s Independent Study Research and Development classes participated in the Bots IQ Wisconsin Regional Competition at Discovery World. Bots IQ is a nonprofit program that educates students about building battle bots, robots that compete in combat with each other, to encourage science, math, and engineering interests. Nicolet built and brought two bots, Shrapnel and Victory. Shrapnel, as it was made and used last year, wasn’t terribly successful, but Victory, a new bot, won the whole tournament of seven schools undefeated.

Victory’s victory can be attributed to the team’s focus on the functionality of design, rather than on the aesthetics. While other teams used the stereotypical spikes and blades that aren’t always as effective as they look, Nicolet’s team focused on what could really make a bot successful. Victory was a two-sided wedge bot, meaning that two of its sides were sloped at a mechanically advantageous angle, and its other two sides were short and vertical. That way, Victory was able to slide under other bots, carry them, and slam them viciously into the walls of the arena while still being able to spin and inflict damage with its sharp corners. This wouldn’t have been possible, however, without Victory’s driver, Tyler Mayer, who said, chuckling, “Driving was about being more intuitive, controlled, and calm than the other drivers.”

With bolstered confidence from the win at Discovery World, the Research and Development classes are now creating four new bots for the much larger competition in April. The challenges from November shape new goals for the next bots, and we hope that Nicolet will continue to be victorious.

Editor's Note: Do you have a picture showcasing you or your family (pets included)? We want to paint a picture of what it's like to be a Bayside or Fox Point resident. If you have a picture you'd like us to use in our Village Scrapbook, email editor Sarah Worthman at: sarah.worthman@patch.com.