By Alexandra Smith

Watching the seconds tick down on a clock had never been as intense as it was in the semi-finals match. Time seemed to stand still as I watched from behind the glass windows that separated the humans from the robots at THOR. THOR, more formally known as “Thundering Herd of Robots,” was a competition created purely for fun and practice for any teams that wanted to come – our team certainly did. It gave all members a chance to try out new strategies and join different groups to work on different things. There’s so much that robotics offers; anyone can join and have a lot of fun at competitions during the season.

While at THOR, I had the opportunity of being a part of the drive team, which consists of four members: the actual drivers of the robot, the coach, and the Human Player (which is what I got a chance to be). All members of the team have to work hand-in-hand to make sure the matches are successful, and it’s especially important that they communicate and finalize a strategy before everyone goes onto the field. It was exhilarating to see all of the action unfold right before my eyes, and it was a completely different experience than staying in the stands. While we were at THOR, we were able to plan excellent strategies with our alliance members, and we placed fourth out of the 31 teams that attended the competition. From there, we entered the semi-finals, where we, alongside the three other teams on our chosen alliance, landed the spot of third overall. The competition was a huge success and was easily one of the most fun day-long events I’ve ever done.

One of the biggest stigmas that comes with being on the robotics team is that you need to be super into math, physics, and engineering to contribute, but it’s actually not necessary. It does help with understanding robotics more quickly, but everyone on the team is incredibly helpful in explaining what the robot is doing, how it’s doing it, and why it’s doing it in basic straightforward terms. That way, all team members are able to help out with building the robot and can also have a basic understanding of what to do. There’s also an entire other side to the team that allows less science-oriented people to strive. In this part of the team, members can work on Team Branding, which includes the design of all of the buttons, posters, t-shirts, pit (the area where the team and robot waits when not competing in matches at the competition), and more. Members can also work on Scouting, which involves keeping track of the strengths and weaknesses of other teams in order to select the best alliance members, and can organize fundraisers to pay for entrance fees and robot parts or outreach events where we demonstrate our robot to younger students and members of the community who might be interested in pursuing STEM related activities. The club really has something for everyone.

At this time of year, the team is counting down the days until the next season’s game is released. It’s a big surprise each year, and each game is completely different from the last. Once the game is released in January, build season begins and there are only six weeks to design and build a completely functional robot, ready to enter competitions within the state. During that time meetings are organized chaos while we rush to get everything finished before the six weeks are over.  At the end of the build season, our robot will compete in several multi-day competitions, first at the district level, then at the regional and world levels if we qualify. Until kickoff, our plans are to focus on fundraising, go to as many events as we can to demonstrate our robot, and get more people involved with the team. Anyone who’s interested can join – it’s not just about building a robot; it’s also about having a fun time with the rest of the team, eating goldfish and pumpkin muffins, and playing with the pool noodles that will eventually be transformed into bumpers for protection from other robots. THOR was just the beginning of the season, and there’s so much to come that all are welcome to be a part of!