Robotics teams are a great demonstration of innovation in action. They bring together students from all sorts of different skill levels and backgrounds to create and program robots. This process teaches students technical skills, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork. With a limited amount of time and resources, teammates must find innovative ways to solve the challenges they face. The competition portion of robotics also fosters innovation when teams strive to better themselves and their robot in order to win tournaments.

On Saturday, February 18th, the ACP Robotics team drove to Tuscon to compete in a robotics competition, and they did extremely well! ACP’s robot, 6030J, won the tournament champion award with the help of their alliance partner, robot 937X- owned and created by a private team.

I was able to talk to Noah Hanson (grade 10), a member of the ACP Robotics team who has been doing robotics since he was a sixth grader. He has always been intrigued by engineering, and robotics gave him the perfect outlet to apply it in real life by experimenting and engaging in engineering. As for his role on the team, he is in charge of hardware, so he gets to build the actual robot itself. He truly enjoys creating the robot because “all the different pieces fit together as if it were a puzzle.”

I also spoke with Ishaan Gubbala (grade 9), a student at ACP, who wasn’t part of the ACP team, but was part of a private robotics team at the same competition. He has been doing robotics for the past 3-4 years, and has really enjoyed his time on the team. He joined robotics because of his passion for building and programming, and the robotics team is the perfect way to do just that. His favorite part of the team is competing alongside his friends and even other teams at competitions.

After talking to both of the robotics team members, I found that they both agreed that without teamwork, the team wouldn’t be able to get anywhere. If everyone isn’t working together, the team can’t be successful, because in robotics multiple people have multiple different jobs, and each job depends on another, just as each person depends on another.

Congratulations to everyone on the ACP Robotics Team and to Ishaan Gubbala and Katie Wong (who attend ACP, but are on a private robotics team) for their amazing performance at the competition! Don’t forget to strive for the impossible and be extraordinary, Go Knights!