By FABIAN CUEVAS, CONNOR GROSS,
ERIN MAXWELL and NAOMI SUZUKI

In the first weekend of March, before the quarantine began, the Patribots placed sixth at the Del Mar Regional.

The local high school robotics club tackled various obstacles to earn their position amongst 58 other competitive teams from across the world. Reaching this achievement was no small task as they spent hundreds of hours designing, programming, and building their robot. By dedicating their undivided efforts into manufacturing a robot, they managed to create one that “works, wins, and looks pretty” as their head coach, Adria Van Loan, has frequently repeated to empower the team.

Since Jan. 4, the Patribots have focused on teamwork and determination to build their bot. This year’s game, “Rise: Infinite Recharge,” challenges teams to work together in alliances of three to shoot power cells into three different areas, rotate a color wheel, as well as lift and balance as many of the alliance partners as possible on a scale. Teams play up to 12 qualifying matches, rotating so they potentially play with and against all other teams at competition.

The students and mentors worked from after school until 9 p.m. on weeknights and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, showing their devotion for the game. Timber Carey, a high school senior and president of the club, has accumulated over 350 hours of community service working on the robot since the new season began, she also was accepted to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) with a full scholarship. The other team members have shown the same commitment with a strong feeling of family and pride which will be carried with them into their futures. They taught themselves programming, design, manufacturing, and teamwork with the help of their mentors and sponsors, DoDSTEM, Qualcomm, Natural Networks, CCTE, Brain Corp, and Solar Turbines. Without these supporters they wouldn’t be able to accomplish the tasks put before them.

The Patribots were working to improve their bot further in its design for an upcoming competition in Las Vegas. However, in light of recent events concerning the COVID-19 outbreak, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, the sponsor organization of the robotics league) made the decision to suspend the 2020 season. The Patribots are grateful they were able to compete at the Del Mar Regional and hope to demonstrate their robot to the community in the future when it is deemed safe.

— Fabian Cuevas is a senior, and Connor Gross, Erin Maxwell and Naomi Suzuki are sophmores at Patrick Henry High School.