News Photo by Darby Hinkley Madalynn Freehling, left, business lead for Alpena High School 5505 Robotics Team, and Cassandra VanHorn, right, media team member, stand beside the team’s current robot, Big Arnold, in the AHS robotics lab. The team is hosting a community open house from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at AHS.

ALPENA — The Alpena High School 5505 Robotics Team has concluded another successful season, and invites the community to an open house from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the robotics lab, D102, at AHS.

The free event will include tours of the lab, live demonstrations, opportunities to talk with students and mentors, resources, award displays, and more.

AHS Junior Madalynn Freehling, business lead for the robotics team, explained some of the requirements for building a robot for competition. This year’s robot is named Big Arnold.

“It’s Big Arnold because it was really overweight,” Freehling said. “There’s a 115-pound weight limit for robots, just for safety issues.”

Big Arnold had to go on a weight-loss plan to get down under 115, as it was 120 pounds.

“If you see all the holes, we call that ‘swiss cheesing it,'” Freehling explained, pointing to round holes in parts of the metal frame. “It’s basically cutting off as much excess weight as we can to meet the weight requirements.”

Freehling has participated in robotics since freshman year. Each year, they name their robot.

“Personally, I love this robot,” Freehling said of Big Arnold. “I’ve seen a lot of robots, through competition throughout our seasons. I just love how dynamic it is. It’s very boxy, but it’s very clean-cut.”

Big Arnold is even sporting some sparkly jewel stickers on the stick, which is essential for keeping elements on the same level for every game during the autonomous portion of competition, in which the robot is not being controlled remotely by a human.

“It’s very much the main attraction,” Freehling said of the sparkly stick. “Our programmer and lead electrician did that.”

The robotics students use a lot of mechanical skills and knowledge, as well as practical problem-solving in both designing and assembling the robot and during competition. The robotics team runs much like a business, Freehling explained, with students taking on different roles according to their interests, including CAD (computer-aided design), mechanics, fundraising, grant-writing, promotion, graphic design, and more.

“Yes, you build a robot, but there’s so much thinking that has to go into it,” Freehling said. “Planning game strategy is so important. Our CAD, it could take so long if we don’t really understand the game and what we have to do. I love our CAD members because they are just down to the detail and I think they do such an amazing job every year. And that’s why we have such amazing robots that can do so many aspects of the game.”

She said the entire team works together to succeed.

“Before a season, the whole team gets together and we prototype,” she continued. “We have ideas, we set our priorities.”

They consider the amount of points each element is worth, then set priorities based on the maximum amount of achievable points.

Senior Cassandra VanHorn is a member of the media team for 5505.

“I’ve been doing multiple different roles on the team,” she said. “Last year, I did programming, and then, this year, I’ve been doing photography because it’s more of my interest.”

Freehling has been interested in robotics for a long time.

“I’ve done it since I was a kid,” she said. “Any sort of STEM, I was into it, and my mom is a really big supporter in my STEM endeavors.”

She enjoys the teamwork involved in the process.

“I really just love the connections I have with people,” Freehling said. “Currently, I met my boyfriend through robotics, and he’s such an amazing person. I love being able to meet people I never could before, without robotics.”

She also met one of her best friends through robotics.

“I think we would have never had that connection without robotics,” Freehling said. “So, yes, I love the robot, yes, I love the writing, yes, I love competitions, but I just love the people who make it so amazing, especially my mentors.”

“I think it’s a unique program,” said Nancy Jones, business mentor. “The Thursday open house is not only to spotlight the seniors, but we’re going to have every other aspect.”

She explained that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the team had more than 60 members, and now there are 17 — five of whom are graduating seniors this year.

Student participation and fundraising are essential, as purchasing equipment and traveling to competitions is expensive.

“They have to design the robot and CAD the robot, but there has to be money to build the robot,” Jones said, adding that Freehling is on the business team, which handles grant-writing, fundraising, and sponsorships. “But we also have to give back to the community … we have volunteer efforts.”

After finishing 42nd in Michigan (out of 526 teams) at the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition in April, the team qualified for world competition in Houston this year, but did not attend because the price tag was $50,000, and the event was scheduled for the week following the ice storm, and many students were still without power, Jones explained.

“We are really shooting for increased student involvement,” she said, adding that they want to thank current sponsors in the community, and encourage anyone interested in learning more to come check it out. “It would be great to pull in some fresh mentors, too.”

Reach Darby Hinkley at dhinkley@thealpenanews.com, or call 989-358-5691.