In the robotics team’s second year of competing together, they finished 31^st out of 54 teams in the competition on March 12. The BioMech Falcons moved up from how they finished last year.

BioMech Falcons placed 43rd out of 56 teams and won the rookie Inspiration Award in last year’s competition.

This year’s competition was called Recycle Rush. Each match was two minutes long, and the robots competed to stack bins.

Typically the teams receive a basic kit with the basic supplies to build a robot. The robot that was created this year was made to lift recycling bins and stack them.

Every part they have for the robot was custom-made with a cost of $3,500 and an entry fee into the competition of $5,000.

Last year’s competition was an aerial assist, a combination of volleyball and basketball. The goal of the robots was to play the game in teams of three.

“The competition was definitely a stressful set of days, but it was well worth it. There were times where my heart felt like it was literally about to burst out of my chest. The competition itself wasn’t particularly difficult, especially compared to the struggles we faced during build season; the competition was mostly putting our robot on the field and hoping that we built it efficiently,” Conor Duffy, senior, said.

The team is filled with students interested in science, engineering and math. The team’s sponsors are Garmin, Henderson Engineers, ScriptPro and Bloch Transportation.

Robotics has 30 members broken up into five groups: business outreach, design team, build team, electrical team and programming team.

Jason Smith, industrial technology teacher, compared their groups to a business.

“Our team tries to run a business,” Smith said. He explained that the main focus for the team is on building a robot, but each group has an objective to get the robot finished and ready, like how a restaurant has a cashier and waiter and people with different objectives to get the job done.

The team has also spent 50 or more hours tutoring local middle-schoolers. Some of their goals this year are to launch a Tetrix summer robotics camp for elementary and middle school students.

            They have showed their robot at various events in order to build interest in engineering. Robotics helps students build skills in technology, engineering, science and mathematics