RONAN — After the state qualifier several weeks ago, Ronan High School’s robotics team is ranked fourth and will be advancing into the state tournament.

The robotics team, SD30 Robotics, competed in the FIRST Robotics Montana state qualifier on Nov. 16 in Butte on the Montana Tech campus. Teams from Montana, Idaho and Wyoming competed to qualify for a tournament held in Bozeman at Montana State University on Jan. 31.

“It was an exciting day,” Jesse Gray, SD30’s advisor, said.

The team endured five rounds of competition. The field comprises a center bridge, pull-up bar, and two pendulums – each with four pendulum goal baskets. The event is timed and is split in two parts. First is a 30-second autonomous section where the robot picks up two-inch yellow, plastic blocks in the center of the field and places them in a goal basket, then parks on the center bridge. Next, during a two minute driver-controlled portion, students must make the robot raise a flag and hang the robot from the pull-up bar in the center of the field.

The team now has an eight-week break. They are allowed to redesign and rebuild their robot before the next competition, which can be a redesign from scratch or modifications to the existing design. Gray said the team would like to perfect the speed and performance of their machine.

The group must keep an engineering notebook, where every bit of information about the building, modification and programming of the robot is written down. Students must produce the documentation while being interviewed by a panel of judges. Gray said the kids have to know what they are talking about so he takes a pretty hands-off approach.

“It’s their design and their program. I’m just the advisor,” Gray said.

SD30 Robotics is a mixed group of students with representation from each grade. Gray said the diversity allows him to build his team and for older students to train and teach younger club members. Freshmen try out each area to see which they want to pursue if they stick with the club.

Gray said there are several standouts on his squad this year.  Tyler Sassaman has participated in the club for four years and has a firm grasp on programming the autonomous portion of the competition. Gray said Sassaman also offers important input on the design. Bradly Findly is another notable student on the team for his work creating optional 3-D models of the robot that accompany the group’s presentation in front the judges.

Three years ago, SD30 Robotics won the national robotics competition. Gray said the design of the 2010-11 robot was key because the small, quick robot handled better on the rough terrain of the course that year.

“There was no where our robot couldn’t drive,” he said. “A whole bunch of people were trying to figure out where Ronan, Montana was after we won.”

Gray said the 2013-14 team and its robot have been performing extremely well and he has high hopes for his students as they advance through the levels of competition.

“They’re going to do really well. They should win some type of award,” Gray said.

If the team places in the state tournament in January, they will move forward to the national qualifier round in California in March of next year.