Warecorp leaders Mark Teskey and Jeff Armentrout led FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics teams to very successful seasons during the 2023-24 "Centerstage" season.
Mark Teskey led team 3763 "Piece of Cake" from Edina High School as an autonomous programming expert/mentor and Jeff led team 23779 "'Lectric Lemons" from the Chanhassen/Chaska area as a mentor during their rookie year.
Both teams participated in the MN First Tech Challenge "Centerstage" State Tournament over the weekend of February 16-17th, 2004. To qualify for the state tournament, each team had to finish in one of the top positions of a tournament or league play during the winter qualifying season.
The Centerstage season celebrated STEAM - the intersection of traditional STEM with the Arts through a challenge involving artistic placement of game elements and includes a show business theme. The annual challenge is revealed to all FTC teams simultaneously the first week of September and teams have a couple of months to determine how to best play the game before competing in qualifiers or league.
Team 23779, "'Lectric Lemons" made their first appearance at the MN State Tournament having qualified through high placement in league play in their rookie year. Warecorp Project Manager Jeff Armentrout served as a mentor for the team helping to guide the hardware and software development. At the State Tournament, the team finished 17th in the Nano Division with a final record of 2-4-0.
It's really challenging to qualify for the state tournament at all - and to not only do it in your rookie year but to perform well enough to beat some top-ranked teams will set that team up for success for years to come. - Mark Teskey, Team 3763 Mentor
For Team 3763 (Piece of Cake) - This was the fifth trip to the state tournament in the last six years for Piece of Cake. During the state tournament, the team won the two top awards in the state going 12-0-0 during the tournament and placing first for the top award in FIRST Tech Challenge, the Inspire award. From the FIRST website:
The Inspire Award winner is an inspiration to other teams, acting with Gracious Professionalism® both on and off the playing field. This team shares their experiences, enthusiasm and knowledge with other teams, sponsors, their community, and the judges. Working as a unit, this team will have shown success in performing the task of designing and building a robot.
These awards earned Team 3763 two coveted berths at the 2024 FIRST World Championships which were held April 16-20 in Houston, Texas. Three other teams from Minnesota qualified as well: Team 13603 - Hackercats (Lakeville, MN), Team 6699 - Tempest (St. Paul, MN), and Team 19706 - Potential Energy (North Oaks, MN).
Warecorp's Head of Engineering Mark Teskey is in his 2nd year of mentoring Piece of Cake and in his 4th total year of being an FTC mentor. Mark is a code mentor that specializes in autonomous operations.
At the First World Championship, Team Piece of Cake finished with a 7-3-0 match record and in 10th place in the Edison Division. This earned them 24th/204 overall and in the top 1% of all teams worldwide. Piece of Cake's Mark Teskey said about the World Championship experience:
Just participating at Worlds is such an honor for any FTC team. It's a showcase for the world's best robotics team and it's an amazing opportunity to learn and share with teams from the US, Australia, Romania, Taiwan, Canada, and many more.
Innovation is the future - and teaching kids to solve problems in innovative ways is in my opinion how equip them to live in the 21st century and to make the world a better place.