From robotics rookies to well-versed veterans; this summer, senior Kathleen Xie, junior Kyle Ma, and sophomore Aaron Xie took Botball by storm, securing a second place finish in the international competition.

   The tournament, hosted by the Global Conference on Educational Robotics, gathers 48 teams in Concord, North Carolina to compete for the championship. Kathleen Xie, Aaron Xie and Ma all compete with Los Altos Community Team 0399.

   Team Captain Kathleen Xie’s robotics journey began when she photographed a local robotics competition in seventh grade, inspiring her to join LACT 0399.

   “Just seeing the robots kind of made me want to join because I thought it was really exciting, and so I signed up for a community robotics team, and that was Botball,” Kathleen Xie said.

   Her brother and vice captain, Aaron Xie, followed a similar path. He became interested in VEX IQ, another robotics program, which later translated into a love for Botball.           

   Ma was first exposed to robotics in sixth grade. He participated in robotics camps and was eventually recruited by Kathleen Xie and Aaron Xie, who introduced him to Botball.

   “I’ve been committed to Botball ever since, and I have been committed to spreading this passion of robotics to Pinewood as well,” Ma said.

   The team’s success in Botball tournaments has been consistent, with two third place finishes in 2023 and 2022 and most recently, a second-place finish.

   According to Kathleen Xie and Ma, the team had fine-tuned their robots to a practice game board just nights before the competition. However, upon arriving at the tournament, they realized the game tables were not how they expected them to be, causing their robots to experience problems and forcing the team to make frequent adjustments while competing.

   However, they made the changes needed, allowing them to secure the second-place finish, only falling short to first place by 0.007 points.

   Despite the obstacles, LACT 0399 clinched the final double elimination match, where their team faced off against a team from Austria.

   “At the end of the round, the judge made us stand in front of the audience and held up the card of the winning team, and it was our team,” Kathleen Xie said.

   For the next tournament, Ma said the team will focus on making their robots even better and aim for first place. He added that he hopes to introduce new people to robotics in the next season.

   “If their passions do lie within robotics, I encourage them to learn as much as they can about it before they head off to college,” Ma said.

    The 2025 International Botball Tournament will take place in Norman, Oklahoma July 8-13.