Wentzville School District’s Ratchet Rockers and the three-team alliance won the 2018 Missouri State First Robotics Competition (FRC) at Liberty on June 9. The alliance is all three of the Wentzville high schools.

The top 25 teams across the state gathered at Liberty to compete. The robots are 120 pounds built, designed and operated by students. Along with their first place win, the Ratchet Rockets were also awarded with Robot of the Year.

“Receiving this peer-based award signifies that the robotics community of Missouri recognizes the hard work and dedication that that was put into making ‘Scorpion’ into a world-class robot,” team mentor Teressa Clark said.

Wentzville’s team is composed of 50 students. At the competition, the students designed their robot for this year’s challenge. This year, the FRC’s video game-themed robot had advanced speed and mobility. The Scorpion has costume made swerve motorized wheels. The teams begin their building and designing at the kick-off in January and strive to meet the requirements of the competition.

“We spend at least 27 hours a week for six weeks; it’s really insane,” senior Maya Angeles said. “One of my favorite parts of robotics is seeing the other teams solve the same problem with different ideas.”

This year’s game insisted of the robot sensing cubes and the advanced intake design allowed for easy manipulation of the game pieces. The Scorpion’s arm was impressively effective picking up the cubes. Once the cubes were picked up the robot placed them on the scale and switch. The coding was written specifically to allow the robot to pick up and place the game cubes without the driver controlling it.

“It’s awesome to be a part of this team and see their excitement as well as how involved the students become in the process. The team works together so well to achieve a common goal,”  team mentor and Liberty science teacher Dr. Deatherage said.

Through trial and error, the team worked tirelessly and continuously to perfect the robot’s function. The Ratchet Rockers were founded in 2005 and since then the team has been to Worlds 4 times and every year, the team has made it to state.