Have you ever worried robots are going to take over the world? The students in robotics sure hope so. It is currently build season for Robotics, which many members describe as the most stressful time of the year. During Build season team members spend close to 50 hours at school during the week and 8 more on Saturday.

“During this time you have to do homework whenever possible,” senior Austin Stark said. “It is not uncommon to be exhausted. Fridays and Sundays are typically long awaited to both relax and get work done.”

Most people are not aware of how Robotics competitions work. These competitions are just as energetic as high school basketball or football games.

This year the game is called FIRST STEAMworks and is steampunk themed. It is a simulated airship race. Three teams work together to gather fuel for the airship by collecting whiffle balls and shooting them into a basket. They also collect gears to power the rotors on top of the ship. At the end of the game each robot has an opportunity to climb a rope to go aboard the airship. Each of these goals awards

points to the alliances. The team with the most amount of points wins.

Competitions take multiple days.

“Day one is for setting up our team workshop [pit] and practicing,” senior Sydney Scholes said. “Day two and three are for qualification matches where each team is given a rank.” Halfway through day three, the top eight teams are ranked and each team picks two other teams to form an alliance with. Together these teams compete in the finals. From there they use a bracket system to determine which alliance makes it to the World Championships.

The Chairman’s Award is given to the team that shows dedication to bettering their community. Last year LHS received this award. It is the highest award given at the Kansas City regional event and took the team to World Championships last year.

The robotics team has a busy few weeks ahead of them to get ready for competition on March 9.

“It may seem stressful, but as many teams say, it’s the hardest fun you’ll ever have,” junior George Meyer said.