After claiming the victory in the Parkway Central VEX Robotics Tournament, the robotics team will compete in the state competition at Rolla, Missouri at Feb.18.

Parkway West’s two teams, Three Screws Loose and Moose Herders, joined forces at the competition and utilized both of their robots in an alliance.

“Winning the competition made me feel a bit surprised, but it made me thrilled that my team’s efforts ended up being so successful and accomplishing,”  junior Ryan Hidalgo said.

This was the first competition of the year, and for seven students, their very first robotics competition.

“I was nervous in the beginning, as this was my first competition and I didn’t really know how it would go. I definitely did not expect the result that came out of it,” Hidalgo said.

The teams participated in a game called Starstruck, a contest where two alliances use their robots to try to get yellow stars and orange cubes to go to the other side of the field.

“At first, I thought it was a little complicated, as it is hard to control your robots well and sometimes the rules are hard to understand, but as I went on, it made more sense, and it became more fun,” freshman Bhargav Addagarla said.

According to robotics team coach Cliff Amen, a major reason why Three Screws Loose and Moose Herders won was because of the robots used. There were no major problems that happened with the robot, and this is rare, as usually the batteries run out or the gears break.

“Our robot’s are as good as everyone else’s. We could do as well as anyone in this competition,” Amen said. “Still, we have to be careful, as everything is going to be more critical in this competition, the strategies, the robots, even the scoring.”

Amen accentuated the significance of practice and how much it factors into the upcoming contest.

“We have to practice with the robot, and we have to keep doing it. We need to practice so we can make sure that everything’s working, that we can efficiently drive the robot. We even have to take the robot home over weekends and practice with it,” Amen said.

While students remain excited about local competition placement, they also look forward to the state competition.

“After feeling that sense of pride while realizing that our little robot somehow made it to state,” Addagarla said, “I think we will do well at state.”