Robotics team builds on success

By Savannah Juiel, Editor-in-Chief

The CCS robotics team credits unity, prayer and grit to their success as a team this past year.  

With robotics teacher Alejandro Haller at its helm, the team has received many awards and recently advanced to state competition for the first time. Awards include: 

• Advanced Vertical Robotics (AVR) won the Exemplary Team Award at their championship in Dallas.  
• First Tech Challenge (FTC) won the Think Award, an award that acknowledges both the triumphs and the pitfalls of a group throughout the engineering process. The teams also won the Design Award, which not only awards a highly efficient robot but also a team's creativity in the building process. They also placed 3rd in the highest award category, the Inspire award that recognizes a team as a whole for being on and off the field inspirations for their program, character and success in the engineering process. 
• First Robotics Competition (FRC) teams were 2nd and 5th place finalists in competition.  

“God has blessed us with a lot of victories, and we’ve had some devastating defeats,” Haller said. “You know, we keep our faith. Regardless of whether we win or lose, everything we do points towards Christ.” 

There are quite a few technical terms when referring to robotics competition. First Tech Challenge is comprised of smaller robots and smaller teams. First Robotics Competition is comprised of larger teams and larger robots. Advanced Vertical Robotics utilizes drones. 

First Robotics Competition teams have a wide range in terms of size. 

“There’s a team out in Westlake; they have three FRC teams with 50 people each,” Haller said. 

This shows the sheer size of some of these teams. One would assume that the CCS robotics team would require a lot of experience to join due to the fact they are facing teams of that size, but that’s not the case. 

“Students need research skills, curiosity and a drive to learn to be successful at robotics,” Haller said. 

Students say they have reaped numerous benefits from being in robotics. 

“I have learned how to innovate and lead a team, as well as think from an engineering perspective and how I can improve my designs,” junior Allison Cabe said. 

Overall, the robotics team has experienced its best year yet. Next year, the robotics team plans to continue this upward trajectory. They also hope to add programs such as underwater robotics and battlebots, Haller said. 

“This year’s program has been incredible,” Haller said. “It’s been the best year we’ve had so far. . .. I have the strongest kids ever. They’re kind, they’re good, they work hard, they’re researchers, they’re hungry, they’re trying to figure out how to be best at what they do and to rely on the strengths we already have. And it’s fun to see that.” 

Photos courtesy Alejandro Haller