At Struthers High School, one of the many robotics teams went to compete at the state level, and made everyone proud by making it into the sweet sixteen.

In the class robotics, students will design robots. There are different parts in building their robot. There is a driver, a builder, and a designer. The driver controls their robot and drives it through different obstacles. The builder builds the robot and makes sure that it is perfect. The designer is the team member who makes the design on what the robot will look like and what will be on the robot.

Going to the state is what everyone’s goal is. The students and teacher Mr. Donatelli made it, and they feel proud.

“When we first made it to state it felt very relieving, we always planned and knew we would make it this year but it was especially nice to make it so early in the season,” says team player Paul Armor.

The class goes to different kinds of competitions. The team will have different rules and obstacle courses they have to follow. There are obstacle courses the team will have to do such as shooting yellow plates into a basket.

There are always mistakes that can be fixed, even if they are the smallest mistakes.

“If I had to change one thing about our creation, I would make the shooter more consistent and more stable. If it was more stable and a better design, we could’ve done more things in matches and probably gone farther,” says team member Blayne Kuehm.

In robotics class, students do a lot of planning and learn new things. In the class, students have to stay focused and stay motivated. If one student is not motivated, then the robot will not come out to its full potential.

There are ups and downs to making a robot–some good, some bad.

“If I had to go back in time and do it all over again, I’m not sure if I would because although we did make it to state and went #1 seed for a while. It was still very hard to do and took a lot of time that I’m not sure I can do again,” says team member Randy Spencer.

The robotics class puts a lot of time and effort into their build. In order to make the build, each team member has to have a job. Each job is needed to make the robot the best it can be.