For the first time in school history, the school hosted a robotics club. They decided to attend a competition in which they were asked to design a robot that could go over rough terrain and retrieve a baton. The design had to be able to work both wirelessly and autonomously. Unfortunately, the team did not have enough time and couldn’t create a robot that met the requirements for the competition.

“We did successfully design a prototype that met the requirements,” club sponsor Corey Smith said. “However, we just weren’t able to pull together all the programming aspects in time for the competition.”

There is another smaller competition being hosted in mid-May the team is trying to attend.

“I just don’t think we will get it all together by then,” sophomore Nathan Knoblett said. “Not because of lack of work, but we need to be 100 percent confident before we compete.”

Despite this club being in its first year of existence, Smith is proud of how much the team accomplished since their first meeting in October

“I’m proud of the camaraderie we have,” Knoblett said. “When we work together we truly get stuff done.”

The club will continue next year and hopes to begin designing earlier so that their creation will qualify for the competition next year. They invite all people interested in robotic design to join the club next year and help in their efforts.

“Robotics is a great way to experience learning to program,” sophomore Blake Young said. “I can’t imagine anywhere else I would’ve learned all that I did.”