Mission Bay High’s first and only robotics team has joined together this year. It is run by engineering teacher Alex Canon, and has been working on a robot for three weeks now. We hope to enter a competitive robot at the FIRST San Diego Regional Competition in March. Since this is the team’s first year, what to expect is unknown. But so far, we have learned a lot about designing, programming and operating robots. During this long process, we also learned a thing or two about character; things like teamwork, dedication and leadership. We aspire to be competitive with teams with far greater experience, even though we are a rookie team. Our team is racing against the clock as we try to finish our very first robot. The mechanical man is supposed to be able to play robot basketball against other robots in the tournament. We have been brainstorming solutions to such problems as, “How does a robot pick up a basketball?” and “What does it take to make a basketball go through a hoop?” We have literally been building the robot from the ground up. “It really feels like we are building a little person,” said one team member. “We have to [program] it to walk and shoot balls. I feel like it will start talking soon.” A robot isn’t the only thing being built. Friendships seem to be, too. “It’s like we’re more than a team, almost family,” said a team member. “Just thinking, planning, designing, problem-solving and building all here, all together, really has brought us closer as friends. When we all met up we were complete strangers, now I feel like I’ve known them my entire high school life.” The robotics team has had a great time so far on the robot and expects even better times in the future. We are very anxious for the completion of our robot we currently refer to as “Sparky.” Christopher Jol and Shalaya Johnson MBHS FIRST robotics team