After countless months of preparation for this big event, the Poway High robotics team, Team Spyder arrived at Worlds on April 22. The competition was held in Houston,Texas this past weekend. Over 400 robotics teams from around the country attended, adding up to thousands of students.
Poway’s robotics team usually qualifies for worlds and this year was no exception. Since the beginning of the year they have had constant meetings in order to start planning out their robot’s design and functions. In addition, there have been four competitions in Ventura, San Diego, Idaho, and Utah to prepare them.
At worlds, robots from different teams go head to head. “The main goal is for your robot to do better than everyone else’s. The robots shoot cargo into the hub, but there are some robots that are significantly better at doing so than others, “ sophomore Jaden Tagulinao said.
Although they did not win worlds, a lot of learning was done. “I think that even though we weren’t able to qualify for semi-finals, it was a chance to learn from other teams, meet new people, and overall a fun experience,” sophomore Julia Picone said.
By attending the competition, Team Spyder has been able to learn from hundreds of different teams, meaning they are able to come back and continue to perfect their robot. “In the end this was a great experience, as we now learned what we need to do to improve our team and robot for next year,” sophomore Rosalie Townsend said.
Robotics will continue to meet and make changes to their robot through the end of the school year and prepare for competitions in the off season.