Find out how Sartell's robotics team did in the FIRST Robotics Championships

MINNEAPOLIS -- WCCO recently introduced you to the Sartell High School Robotics Team. The team made school history as the first to qualify for the FIRST Robotics Championships this past weekend in Houston, Texas.

Derek James caught up with them this week to find out how the matches went, and what's next. You can see their response in the video above.

Below is the original story as it ran on April 11.

With "Bismarck," Sartell High School robotics team makes school history

SARTELL, Minn. -- A robot named Bismarck is trained to play and win games.

Next week, 19 students and their coaches on the Sartell High School Robotics Team will take the Bismarck to the 2023 FIRST Championship Robotics League, a first in school history.

"(Bismarck) kind of has two meanings. It's been unsinkable, it's not had many mechanical issues, and we've got our steel ballast sitting in the back here that we like to consider the the filling of the robot," said Tyler Clauson, operator and build lead for the Sartell High School Robotics Team.

"It's robot sport ball. The game is different every year. But you're building a 150-pound machine that can travel 10 miles per hour to play some kind of sport," said Ryan Swanson, head coach of the team.

This year, it's delivering cones and cubes to a grid. First, a 15-second competition where the robot races to pick-up cubes autonomously.

"What we've been working on as of late is getting three pieces during that which is a pretty rare feat," said Seth Westrup, operator and driver for the team.

Then using some controllers familiar to teenagers, a driver match.

"It's just like a video game honestly. It feels a lot like that," said Westrup.

"We probably average about 10 to 11 game pieces per match," said Clauson.

Students build the robots under strict rules, limited resources and a six-week time limit.

"I love competition and the stress of it. I love it when our robot breaks, and I've got 10 minutes to fix something that took two hours to build," said Paige Erickson, build lead and pit boss of the team.

Since January, the team estimates they've made dozens of major repairs and hundreds of smaller repairs. All that work has paid off.

The Sartell team, which started in 2016, has more wins this season than all previous seasons combined. The Sabrebots qualified for the world championship after taking home the Lake Superior Regional title in Duluth. They are one of 25 Minnesota teams competing at this highest level.

"We all try and help each other out and be nice, but it's still a competition," said Clauson.

First-year head coach Ryan Swanson has been to the championship as both a student and as an advisor in the past with the Becker Robotics. He says, while the competition is exciting, there's a big build going on.

"The robot is the tool. The actual purpose of the program is building students not building robots," said Swanson.