In Albemarle County, there are nearly 100 students that participate in Robotics, however when the Robotics began they were very small, with only 7 students. Currently at Western, there are 30 students in Robotics, divided into three teams. The teams are called the Loose Screws, the Geek Gods, and Her Majesty’s Engineers.

One competition that robotics participates in is called FTC, which stands for First Tech Challenge. “The students have to design, build, and program the robot to meet the challenges of the competition” said Caroline Bertrand, who is the teacher sponsor of Robotics. During competitions students must use math and science for practical reasons to create their robots. “There are three aspects that we are being judged on.” said Mrs. Bertrand “The robot performance, the engineering notebook, and there is a team interview.” In the competition, participants must cover and excel in all of these categories.

Another element of the competition are alliances. “At each competition there are four robots competing, four on one side and four on the other. So the two on the same side are the ones that are your ally. And each match everyone gets switched around, so you may be allied against somebody and then fighting against them the next competition.” Mrs. Bertrand said. Also, the student in robotics must do community outreach, the students can either do outreach for businesses and colleges, other high schools, or younger kids.

The current challenge is called the Cascade Effect and is what robotics works on during their meetings. They meet at 4:00 to 6:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work on the Cascade effects, other projects, and otherwise prepare for the upcoming events.

“Right now we are trying to build a robot to complete the challenge that was given to us at the beginning of the season. So right now we are trying to build a program for the robot.” They have also have been having many fundraisers to raise money for the cost that robotics. “We need money for the parts, that is our main expense. We also need money for travel, [because] some of our competitions are away.” Mrs Bertrand said. The club is also raising for club activities and new tools.

There are three teams that make up WAHS robotics; the Loose Screws, the Geek Gods, and Her Majesty’s Engineers. Her Majesty’s Engineers started in 2014, however the Loose Screws and the Geek Gods have competed in past competitions.

In addition to the FTC competition there is a competition on January 10th at the University of Virginia and people are welcome to come and watch Her Majesty’s Engineers in action. On December 13, there was a competition in Northern Virginia in which the Loose Screws and the Geek Gods competed. Both the Geek Gods and the Loose screws qualified for the state competitions in that competition, which was their first competition of this year!