Many students have heard of the Robotics club at MHS, but don’t actually realize what it does.

MHS Robotics was founded in 2011. It is divided into two completely separate teams: Team 5439 and Team 5119, also known as the Gluons and the Baryons, respectively.

Amar Mohanty, junior, is the captain of Team 5119, and has been involved with MHS Robotics for two years.

“Last year we had a lot of seniors, so this year, since all of the seniors graduated, we have a lot of new members, and most of our members are inexperienced,” Mohanty said.

This lack of experienced members has led to some adjustments within the club, including a shift in focus from solely building the robot, to strengthening the business team, Mohanty said. The business team works on advertising, making a website, getting funding, and documenting everything that is done on the robot.

“When we talk about Marquette Robotics, we’re not just talking about the robotics part, we’re also talking about the business aspect. We have to fund and promote our robot and actually do community outreach,” Mohanty said.

So far, MHS Robotics has participated in two practice competitions with all of the Rockwood teams.

“During the practice rounds, not a single robot is completed, so you can’t really compete against each other,” Mohanty said. “It’s more about building and working on our robots and asking for help from other people there.”

The actual competing is done differently. At the start of the competition, the robot is checked to make sure it follows all of the regulations, Mohanty said. Then the robot is brought to a judges panel where the team gives a 15 minute presentation and answers questions about the robot. Then the teams compete against each other, tournament style, to see who can score the most points, which are given for successfully completing certain tasks.

The next competition is tomorrow, Saturday, December 6th at Florissant Valley Community College. The Gluons and the Baryons are among about 50 other competitors.

“Right now I have no clue what to expect [at the competition] because we have a non-functioning robot with no wires connected, so we’re cutting it close with only one day until the competition,” Mohanty said.

Austin Beinder, freshman, is more hopeful for the upcoming competition.

“I’m expecting it to go well, it might be a little hard because our robot has had some problems lately, but I think we’re doing better now and we’ll be able to fix it and get it done,” Beinder said.

Regardless of recent problems with the robot, the members of the Baryons team fit together and work together really well, Beinder said.

The second team at MHS, the Gluons, ran into some last-minute issues as well.

“[Our robot] is not entirely done yet, we still have some kinks to work out,” Chris Craft, sophomore member of the Gluons, said.

Because of these problems, Craft said he was unsure how well the Gluons would do in the upcoming competition.

“The main problem that we had [this year] was that we didn’t have access to a 3D printer, so we’re going with a completely different design,” Craft said. “It’s kind of makeshift but I think it has potential.”