It’s 2017 and robots aren’t exactly taking over our world, but Manhattan High School’s Cyborg Indians sure are making their mark. The Cyborg Indians Robotics team went to regionals in Kansas City during spring break and competed against 59 other robots.

The team had a goal time of six weeks for preparation and worked on their robot nearly every day.

“We started out with doing team-building exercises to help us get to know each other better and then we split up into our separate teams,” freshman Matthew Ewers said.

The robotics team worked on the robot in three sections: mechanical, electrical and programming.

“We started off the build season by just prototyping and designing most of what the robots general structure would be,” senior Leah Selman said.

The team designed their robot with certain skills and advantages.

“[Our robot] can dump about 40-50 large wiffle balls into a low goal, receive gears from a chute and place them on a peg and climb a 5-foot Velcro rope,” senior Caroline Hwang said.

During regionals, the team formed an alliance, where multiple robotics teams come together, with the third-ranked team for the final rounds.

“It was interesting because you have to collaborate a lot with the other teams and figure out what their robot can do and can’t do,” Selman said.

The alliance was undefeated in quarterfinals, but lost after two tie-breaker rounds.

“It was really stressful and kind of disappointing but we’re only a second-year team and we made it [so] far,” Ewers said.

The alliance finished third overall and missed qualifying for the World’s tournament by 20 points in the semifinals.

Though the Cyborg Indians made it to regionals, they’re aware of where they have room for improvement.

“I think we can do better with working together and communicating,” Selman said.

The robotics team has made some big accomplishments, but go slightly unnoticed in the school.

“Most people seem to think it’s some nerdy thing [but] it helps you build your personality,” Ewers said.

“I want people to know that we work hard and do pretty amazing things,” Selman said.

Though the team didn’t make it to worlds, they’re all proud of how far they’ve come.

“Emma [Detrixhe], Chris [George]  and I are so proud of the progress that this team has made in just two short years and are looking forward to continuing to grow,” Cyborg Indians sponsor Janet Stark said.