Many people wish to ease into the intensity of second semester for a few weeks before getting into their study mindset. However, members of the Mission Hills Robotics Team have to cut their break short and run head-on into six weeks of tiring and rigorous planning and building.

  This year’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) theme is Destination: Deep Space. Although the Iron Kodiaks, known in FRC as Team 5137, aren’t trying to solve rocket science, they still must work diligently in an effort to beat out other schools on the field. Mental gears begin to turn in everyone’s mind on mechanical design, strategy and each individual part for the robot.

  “Beneath the surface, there’s a lot more things that you have to do for this challenge. There is a lot of small details you have to work through; there are so many things that you have to do for this year that you can’t possibly do everything in competition,” Brian Meer (11) said.

  Although the challenge only revolves around three main objectives, students have to pour a lot of their time, energy and effort into building a robot that can do multiple tasks: more specifically throw cargo, place hatches and climb onto a high platform. However, the high expectations that are set for the Robotics Club don’t keep people from having fun while working out their problem-solving skills and practicing gracious professionalism.

  “I love working together with the team. Every single day comes with a new challenge that we must solve in order to make the best robot possible,” Kayla Tracy (11) said.

  The high standards that the Iron Kodiaks hold themselves to shouldn’t keep others from joining the Robotics Club. Team 5137 has been growing in numbers every year, and even those who lack robotics experience can easily jump on board and provide insight for the team.

  “In general, I think that it’s an amazing experience for people interested in robotics. I feel like anyone can join and can pick it up easily and participate in the engineering world. The whole FRC club is a good way to get hands-on experience that people normally wouldn’t,” said Jovanni Torres (11), the Mechanical Lead for the Iron Kodiaks.

  The Robotics team plans to finish their robot sometime in February, so they can start competing in FRC competitions.