This year the Heritage Robotics Club qualified to go to the NorCal State Championships for the second year in a row. Although the team has made it to NorCal 7 times, it is the first time they have qualified in back-to-back years. The team won the Inspire Award, allowing them to forward their season into the championships. Reaching such a high achievement took immense effort from all members of the team, pushing the engineering, coding, and outreach, groups to work as one.
Although the finished product is all that many will see, a great deal of work is put behind the scenes starting all the way in August when the team begins their build season. During build season, the robot is designed, built, and coded by the team. In October, all their work is put to the test during the first league meet of the season. After the season of revisions and remodeling, the robot is put to the final test in the arena. It may not go smoothly all the time but that is just part of the experience according to Katharina Wallace (12) the club president.
“Usually, we have a part or something that breaks during the competition, and now you are stuck because your robot doesn’t work, but that’s okay. It becomes, I know this robot inside and out, how do I fix it? Can I make something similar that’ll work? It’s a lot of brainstorming and on your feet thinking making sure that whatever’s broken can be fixed,” said Wallace.
After many late nights working together, the Robotics Team has created a bond that will last a lifetime. Being able to see their hard work pay off and celebrating together has become memories that will last forever, especially for outreach leader Amara Espinosa (11).
“My favorite part about the club is definitely all the time that I spend with my team. I have helped a lot of new members come in, seen our club grow, and then see us win awards. It’s really nice,” said Espinosa.
The team prioritizes its future success as well. With many seniors graduating, they are already planning a seamless transition by building confidence in next year’s squad. The underclassmen are creating their own robot which they will test together before the season’s close.
The club encourages students of all experience levels to join, even beginners who are interested. They believe what is most important to keep pushing when things get tough. Club President, Timothy Susanto (12), is an example of success through resilience.
“I just say keep going because you’ll definitely feel those failures, but you will also feel motivated once you make progress and see it,” said Susanto.
Although the 2024 to 2025 season is coming to an end for the Robotics Team, their work is not quite done yet. They have been invited to compete in a worldwide competition this summer in South Bend Indiana where they will go up against 95 other teams from around the world.
