Sitting on the bleachers and holding hands with her teammates in the Lafayette High School gym, Keerthi Thota, sophomore, awaited the moment awards were announced for the STL Mid-League Tournament. When ‘The Gluons’ appeared on the screen, signifying the team won 1st Team Alliance, the team jumped up with excitement.
“We were basically praying that when the results came out it would be our team’s alliance,” Thota said. “So when it came out, we all jumped up and ran down. It was just a great moment.”
After being selected to be partnered with a top 6 team for the Alliance Round, the Gluons’ robot competed alongside the Mesons, a team from Eureka, in several rounds of the playoffs, Thota said, which takes technical preparation.
The team also earned 2nd place for the Control Award, which is when judges rank the teams’ robots based on the programming design, Thota said.
“Preparing often involves late nights,” Thota said. “Usually we try to be productive and do time management, but it always comes down to the last night.”
Alfred Binoy, sophomore, said the robot has specific requirements and challenges it has to accomplish at each meet.
“This year, we had to pick up a ball and shoot it in a hoop in three minutes,” Binoy said.
Because the team has qualified for State, they plan to make adjustments to the robot including fixing all of their mistakes to win at State, Binoy said.
Janet Koch, robotics coach, said her role mostly involves ordering parts for the team and making sure the teams are on track. Koch said this year, the teams have been focused, which has allowed them to succeed.
The teams are also the biggest they have been, with 18 members on the Gluons, 20 on the Luxons and 15 on the Baryons.
“They are very dedicated, they are very invested,” Koch said. “Their hard work actually paid off when we went to the competition yesterday.”
When the awards and places were announced, Koch said she felt proud and excited for her teams.
“It was especially thrilling for me to see how happy they were,” Koch said.
The teams will compete at the Super Qualifiers event Saturday, Feb. 21, which will allow them to compete in the State competition on Saturday, March 7.
