by Alex Feit

This school hosted a regional robotics competition and gathering sponsored by the Ligerbots Sunday, Nov. 12.

The competition, in which over 30 teams participated, was based on the FIRST Lego League rules, according to senior Paige Grody, the team’s captain.

Greengineering, an engineering group at this school that tries to solve environmental problems, was also in attendance at the event showcasing its work.

“It was overall a day full of robotics and engineering, and everyone had a lot of fun,” Grody said.

According to Grody, even though the game-type for this year’s competitions has not been released, the Ligerbots are already working on various essential components to their robot, such as pneumatics and central electronics systems. They are also educating new members on how to eventually build parts of the robot on their own.

“Our strengths so far are that we have a huge influx of new members who are willing and eager to participate and that the team’s become a lot more organized and better at allocating its resources efficiently,” she said. “On the downside, we’re still stuck with a time constraint of only six weeks, and we have to make sure that everyone’s ideas are heard and considered while still leaving enough time to finish the robot.”

Grody said the current goals of the team are “to double our current attendance rate, which should be manageable now that fall sports have ended, to give each new member the skills to be able to design and build basic components of the robot by themselves, to explore new drive and arm systems, to bond as a team and to have fun.”