The Robotics team finished their robot on Tuesday, Feb. 19, after six weeks of almost daily workdays to prepare for their regional competition.

According to senior Tyler Hilk, the robot will perform various activities at the competition.

“The robot picks up dodgeballs that are 11-13 inches in diameter, puts them eight feet in the air and [puts them] in a hole on the side of a cut out rocket,” Hilk said. “We also have hatches that we do the same thing with, which are about 15 inches in diameter.”

By Ciara Pemberton
The Robotics team and their sponsors completed the building process by bagging their robot on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Junior Isabella Baker believes their robot is unique to other robots because of its abilities.

“One thing our robot can do that most robots actually can’t, that we’ve seen, is climb a one-foot, nine-inch platform,” Baker said.

The convenience and speed of their robot made Hilk and the rest of the team confident in what their robot can do.

“We’re one of the only teams that builds with PVC specifically. Not even the PVC Pirates [from Londonderry High School], ironically, use PVC,” Hilk said. “We build for lightweight and durable action so we can always be able to repair a part in less than five minutes, which is something we take a lot of pride in. Then, we just start from the drive train up.”

According to Hilk, the preparation of the robot was a group effort.

“I worked with the gear boxes and the transmissions at first. From there, we went up with the scissor lift, then the wind strap and then up to the pneumatics, and that was only a small part of the work that we ended up doing.”

During preparation, Baker learned how to become a driver, and had a fun experience being on the team.

“I love the friends I’ve made in Robotics,” Baker said. “It’s just a fun time, I enjoy it a lot.”

Hilk and the rest of the robotics team enjoyed seeing the two newly trained drivers work on the robot.

“Watching the drivers compete [was my favorite part],” Hilk said. “It’s interesting to see two drivers go back and forth in strengths and weaknesses and how they both adapt to it. It was pretty cool to see them take the positions that everybody was anxiously waiting to see.”