Inventions on display. Robots churning gears. Carlsbad’s robotics team had the opportunity to display their pieces at the Robotics Championship in Houston, Texas. From Apr. 17 through Apr. 20, the robotics team learned skills and lessons that will be incorporated into next year’s program.  

Thousands of students from all around the world that are involved in the STEM program – integrating science, technology, engineering and math into education and leadership roles – competed in multiple events, hoping to win awards based off of their creations.

“For the world competition there are robotics matches, and so there are qualification matches, and the semifinals and finals where your robots compete with other robots and alliances,” sophomore Aiko Lozar said.

Through the robotics competition, participants are judged throughout their matches on their engineering notebook and the business created. The preparation for the team this year was fast-paced in order to meet to the judges’ expectations of a compatible bot.

“The preparation that we had to go through was that we didn’t have enough time to know that we were going to worlds so we really had to fundraise a lot in order to send us all there,” Lozar said.

For next year, the team hopes to improve on certain aspects of their efficiency and teamwork. Being their first time at the worlds, the matches and judging have been ingrained in the team members’ mind in order to display new skills and tactics for future competitions.

“Looking at other bots we have compared and seen what they have done and see what we can do to our own,” junior Sam Carter said.

After looking at the progress the team has made since the beginning of the championships until now, members like Lozar and Carter make sure to apply the suggestions and key components to create a world-class invention.

“Next year I would like to implement more advanced programming and more custom built parts,” Carter said. “We have access to a 3D printer and a laser cutter now which is quite exciting.” 

With new perspectives and ideas, the robotics team has one major goal: to make it to the world championships for the second year in a row.

“I would love to be head of business of the sophomore part of the team and on top of that, I really want to go to worlds again,” Lozar said. “[The team] hopes it’s not just a one-time experience.”