Manhattan High School’s Robotics Club qualified for the Semifinals at the Regional Robotics Competition in Sedalia, Missouri.​​ The team left for Sedalia Thursday afternoon and competed through the weekend. 

The team has been preparing for Regionals since January to ensure their robot worked and to prepare their driver. They worked on the robots twice a week for two and a half hours, as well as on Saturdays for longer.

“We’ve been working on the robot non stop, trying to make sure it’s the best as we could,” junior Wyatt Karl said, “based on years of past experience and new ideas brought in from freshmen and sophomore joining members of the table.”

The first day of the competition was spent working with other teams and viewing the different robot designs. The second day of the competition was the qualifying matches for each team to get a seat placement in the tournament. 

“It’s a very hasty process of making sure…everything [is] checked,” Karl said, “what can we change to help improve, and get as [many] wins as possible so that we can get a high rank for the actual tournament.”

The third day was the tournament where the top seven teams competed. MHS made it through the quarterfinals and advanced to the semi finals.

The team had to work with a new driver of the robot, who managed to secure the win for MHS. 

“It’s his first year on our team and seeing him be able…adapt in that situation and handle all that pressure was really exciting to see,” captain of robotics club senior Annissa Dougherty said. “It’s definitely a lot of pressure when you’re the one in charge of the outcome of competition.” 

The team was happy with their results at the competition. They had sixteen members out of 24 qualify for the Semifinals.

“Our team managed to do really well and improved so much in driving,” Dougherty said, “and maneuvering around the field and working with other teams to perform better.”

During the competition working with robotics and the technology behind the bot, brings a chance of error.

“Something always goes wrong,” Karl said, “and you have to work around that in order to make the most of your time that you have.”

The team worked together to build, prepare, and compete while cheering on eachother and creating a friendly environment.

“It was also cool to see people in our stands on our team be really excited,” Dougherty said, “and cheer on our team when we were performing and others.”

“I thought it was just fun,” Karl said. “going on [a trip] with everyone and everyone working towards a common goal of trying to win.”