Jakson Medelline, Fabian Perez, Stanley Alba, Benjamin Grinnan, Marco Rivera, Luis Ruiz and Savannah Lilley.
The Sulphur Springs High School Robotics team may not have scored high enough to advance to state, but overcame obstacles for a strong showing at the Collin County B.E.S.T. Robotics Competition Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25-26, according to robotics teacher Ruston Pennington.
“They represented us well and worked hard until the end. Unfortunately, they had a very hard day fighting equipment failures and the competition was very strong. Many teams, including ours, did not get a chance to score any points during the game. We still came out of the game with 3 to 6 out of the 15 available tournament points for our overall place in the game,” Pennington stated.
The robotics score includes more than just performance in the game, which allowed the students to earn additional points and valuable experience.
“Some students represented us with a expo booth that was an arcade powered by a bicycle generator. Others had to sell the robot in a formal marketing pitch to a panel of investors (think Shark Tank). And, most importantly, their efforts in design and development were put together in an engineering notebook,” Pennington noted.
Each aspects of the competition was worth more points in the tournament than the game performance. Students scored in all areas. While SSHS Robotics Team’s overall place in the tournament (which featured 38 competitors) has not been revealed yet, Pennington said they are aware they did not that we did not advance to state. Only the top two large schools advance.
“I’m extremely proud of their effort on competition day and their attitudes in the face of difficulty. They kept working until the last seeding round and worked continuously to do the best they could,” Pennington said.
“We are looking forward to the next set of competitive events in February, and plan on repeating our wins at district and state, and we will be strong contenders for nationals!” he added.
