Sport, for many, may be limited to physical challenge, but robotics could be considered a “sport of the mind”.

This team has a unique goal: to design, build, and test out a robot that can complete a strategically planned out task.

Three Cooter juniors were intrigued by this idea. Aidan Beckman, Cade Espy, and Tim Welch. The three went to a meeting out of curiosity and loved the idea. They joined the team and now are preparing for their competition.  This is the second year they have competed in the robotics challenge.

This is the only competition that this group participates in. There are over 60 teams from all over the state, going head to head for the winning spot. Out of all of the teams, they are randomly separated into “alliances” of three teams and these groups are to complete a task of a sort and are competing against another alliance with the same goal.

Whichever team wins this first round of competition, gets ranking points and may move on to the final rounds. This is considered the preliminary competition.

At the end of preliminaries, the top eight teams, having the most points, will go on to the final round. They will each choose new alliances for the final competition. Once this final round has been won, the top alliance will advance to the national competition.

Robotics provides an opportunity for young students to get a hands on experience with engineering. This gets aspiring engineers the experience they long for and allows them to meet successful engineers and people in the field. Being apart of this group can open doors at a young age.

“I like robotics because it gives me a chance to expand my knowledge of the engineering process, while competing in a fun and engaging competition,” Beckman said.