Tension filled the gym during the First Tech Challenge (FTC) awards ceremony as the announcers called out the teams that would be moving on to the state competition on Saturday, March 2.
Senior Lisha Maganti, co-captain of the Luxons robotics team along with Joshua Li, senior, anxiously waited for the results. Hearing their number finally get called, she and her team exploded with excitement.
“We were all extremely happy and excited,” Maganti said.
The Luxons are the only RSD robotics team to qualify for State.
Maganti said entering the qualifier meet on Sat. Feb. 3, the team was ranked at second place, but the competition went differently than they expected. The Luxons ended up being picked as alliance partners, which allowed them to team up with another team and their robot, leading them to qualify for State.
“It was all a surprise at the end, we didn’t even think we’d go,” Maganti said.
Now looking forward to State, Maganti said the team plans to make minor changes to their robot Luminary, such as making its movements faster. Their intake uses boba straw spinners against a ramp to pick up items and drop it into a box on their robot. The box is attached to an arm that slides up and rotates to deliver the item wherever needed. They also plan to increase their outreach to the community.
Janet Koch, club sponsor, said she has been surprised at how hardworking and creative each team member is.
“I thought there was going to be a lot more work on my part to learn, but the students are very advanced,” Koch said.
Despite the steeper competition this year, Koch has high hopes for State, noting the team’s talent and how much effort they have put in this season.
“I feel like they’ve got very good chances to do well, I’m very proud of their efforts,” Koch said.
Koch has also taken note of how focused and anxious the team is going into the next rounds.
“They’re very focused on making their portfolio good and to make their robot be in its top performance,” Koch said.
Many team members, like Caleb Monzyk, junior, were excited to hear that their hard work paid off.
We consistently set state records and were one of the top teams in the world at one point.
— Caleb Monzyk
Monzyk works on 3D modeling and design for the Luxons and estimates he spent 200 hours this season working on the robot design.
“I am basically the sole person who works on it so it was definitely a lot,” Monzyk said.
Monzyk said he expected to qualify for State because the team has strong leadership and organization.
“We consistently set state records and were one of the top teams in the world at one point,” Monzyk said.
Despite this, Monzyk said qualifying was more difficult than he anticipated and the team will have to make improvements to have a fair shot of making it to Worlds, the international competition in April at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.
“It was definitely a big challenge even to qualify for State, so we’re definitely going to need to step up our game in order to have a chance to compete with all the best teams from around Missouri,” Monzyk said.
