Robotics team wins first in state competition, twelfth in world

A local robotics team, Team 2471 Mean Machine, took first place in the March FIRST Robotics state competition and over the weekend were semi-finalists in the FIRST Robotics world competition held in St. Louis, Mo. Out of the top 100 teams in the world Team Mean Machine placed 12th. The Camas based team includes students from Camas, Washougal and Hockinson High Schools.

Team mates carry the robot into the arena.

FIRST robotics is a nationwide after-school program that gets kids involved with building real robots and competing in a team environment. These kids are offered a hands-on chance to experience technology. Many go on to pursue their passion for robotics and enter high tech careers in engineering, new product design, and automation.

“Great things happen when business professionals adopt teams of kids at our local schools,” says David Madore, CEO of US Digital, a sponsor of the local team.

“These teams are mentored by experienced engineers that volunteer their time with enthusiasm. Roy Thornley, a very talented US Digital automation engineer, has invested countless hours and total dedication to mentor this team.”

Roy Thornley mentored the winning FIRST Robotics team from Camas.

Thornley’s efforts have paid off. The past three years his team has placed in many competitions including placing first in the state competition in Oregon last year, this is the second year in a row they earned first place in the Washington state competition, and the second year they qualified and competed in the world competition.

“Just going to the World competition by bettering some 2500 other teams throughout the world is quite an accomplishment,” says Roy Thornley. “To make it to the semi-finals is amazing. And once again, with USD’s help, little Camas did it.”

Many team members contributed to winning the design award, but the team gives special acknowledgment to Henry Midles who designed the ball gathering system and riser, Keefe Koenig for the thrower and turret design, Nicholas Thornley for the precise and sturdy welded drive frame and our controls team, Griffen Gorsuch and Catherine Le, who made it all work with wiring, sensors and programming.

Robotics team from Camas competed at world robotics competition.

Participating students include: Alex Wolfe, Andrew Klement, Anna Kellogg, Azriel Achterbosch, Bryce Croucher, Catherine Le, Corey Vanderploeg, Griffen Gorsuch, Henry Midles, Jacob Wright, James Wasson, Jared Freeman, Jonah Runde, Jordan Mazi, Keefe Koenig, KT Boyd, Kurt Johnson, Maggie Smith, Megan Bachman, Natalie Jansen, Nicholas Thornley, Riley Taylor, Romney Kellogg, Ryan Berg, Trent Mulder, Victor Zhang, Zach Spratt.