ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Rockford Christian High School hosted the Regional Robotics Competition on Saturday, and the winners are heading to state.
Competitors said that they were excited, as they had been working continuously throughout the season to improve their robots.
“We are feeling good,” said Sara Koshi, Team 7715 “Robotic Lions.” “It’s been a long season, we made a lot of changes to our robot throughout. We actually, we started, we have now four-wheel drive, we started with two wheel drive. Our mechanism to pick up the blocks has changed a lot too.”
Koshi is a sophomore at Rockford Christian High School, and she said that her team’s first competition on Saturday went well.
“It applies a lot of problem solving skills, an application of what we learned in class and then apply it to something that’s going to be crucial when you move on,” Koshi said.
Keith Jeske, the robotics coach for the high school, said that he is excited to see all these hard-working kids and their robots.
“So each team has competed in three meets leading up to this day, and each meet, they have improved their robot,” Jeske said. “They improved their programing, they are working harder to meet the goals of the competition.”
Each team did interviews with the judges to present and explain the engineering process of their robot. They had three minutes to collect blocks and stack them onto a three-tier target, and also used a camera to detect a rubber duck.
“This is a program preparing future engineers and workers in the STEM field,” Jeske said. “So it’s programing, it’s designing, it’s engineering, it’s building but it’s also the process of going through.”
Win or lose, Koshi is happy to be a part of like-minded people.
“It’s just nice to be here and having fun with fellow teams and fellow robotic lovers,” she said.
There were 23 teams competing against each other on Saturday, but only five teams will be moving on to state. The Robotic Lions is one of those five teams.
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