Contributions by Khira Patel 

The weekend of Nov. 1 and 2, Robotics Club won 2nd place in the Capitol Best.

This is an interactive experience where middle school and high school teams are given six weeks to design, build, and then compete their robots in a head to head battle and present their original ideas. For this competition, teams were given a certain amount of materials and minimum budget to construct their robot out of things such as wood and  metal. Everyone is given the same task that their machine needs to successfully complete.

“This year, the competition had to do with wind turbines, and the robot had to pick up parts and get it over open gates and a bridge, and start building a wind turbine itself,” said Sponsor of Robotics Mrs. Tarver.

There are two different categories that teams can place in: the head to head robot competition or  “Best Competition”, which is an overall award. That is where Robotics Club achieved their goal of winning in this event.

“We were kind of surprised because we won by 0.02 points, meaning that every ounce of effort that we put in contributed to us winning,” said President of Robotics Club Govind Girish ‘16. “Just imagine: if we slacked off one day, we wouldn’t have made it.”

In order to receive the Best Competition award, teams must have an appealing marketing presentation, a website, and exhibit. On top of that, the robot has to perform  well.

“We did all of that and came in second and allowed us to advance to state!”  Mrs. Tarver said. “It was a great sense of accomplishment because I know how hard the kids have worked in all aspects, not just the robot.”

The team strived to make their presentation unique in all categories.

“The judges really loved our exhibit because we actually did something outside of the box,” Parliamentarian Rishab Pandian ‘16 said. “This years topic was windmills and we kind of took a suborder instead of using just windmills for renewable energy. We used ocean currents to make an exhibit. [It included] an aquarium with a paddle boat which demonstrated how you can make continuous motion with that.”

Robotics Club has made state before, but not in this category. Currently, the team is preparing for the state competition, which is on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 14 and 15. The robot is not going to change; however, their focus is going to be directed on driving the robot for the head to head as well improving the exhibit, presentation, and website aspects.