As the school year unfolds, the Pinewood robotics team (PWRUP) is gearing up for an exciting new season. Having already competed in one local tournament and revealed their ambitious plans for the next few months, the robotics team hopes to dominate their next regional competition.
During the CalGames tournament held at Woodside High School last month, the team encountered unexpected challenges, leading to a performance that fell short of their expectations.
“We had a lot of issues come up both software and hardware; things breaking, software not working,” PWRUP co-captain Joey Makower said.
Despite the tough loss, the team plans to incorporate different techniques to improve their performance in the upcoming regional tournament, First Robotics Competition, in March.
“We tried a new team structure: break it up into smaller groups that met on their own time, and that worked great, so we feel like we’ve got structure done,” faculty advisor Will Rees said.
In addition to the team’s structural improvement, the robotics team plans to revamp their engineering process. They want to focus on time management through coordination between different subgroups, among other techniques. Their hope is that this will improve the overall quality of their robot and readiness for the competition.
The team’s ambition to strive for innovation extends to their members. This year, the team has around 28 members, around six more than last year.
“Because of the increased emphasis on STEM classes and offerings in middle campus, we’re now getting more and more students who are interested in robotics,” Rees said.
The team also has its eyes on another potential tournament some time during spring break. If they end up competing, they plan to apply the experience and knowledge gained in First Robotics Competition and adapt for this competition.
Throughout the next few months, PWRUP will be working tirelessly to fine-tune their methods to excel in the upcoming competitions.x
“All of this will hopefully result in a team with our resources having a better robot,” Rees said.
