East’s Robotics Club met Monday, November 14 after to school to prepare for their upcoming competition.

Because the bots have to be complete by this Friday, the avid club members are working hard to ensure that all parts of the machines are in order.

This year’s competition purports to be more challenging than last year’s since the robots now have to be 18X18X18, and more challenges have been added to the criteria.

“It’s definitely tougher than last year’s competition. Last year, the robot just had to pick up rings and score them on goals. This year, it is a lot more complicated because there are balls and barrels that have to be dropped into the goal posts which are 36 inches high, so it is harder for one to score on that high of a goal,” said Iftikhaar Ali (’13).

Three teams will compete in the competition. The first team consists of the club’s founders and presidents, Aaron Sirken (’12) and Brendon Rush (’12); the second; Andrew Alimek (’12), Conrad Kramer (’14), Dylan Leong (’12), Erik Anderson (’12), Hesham Nassar (’15),  Iftikhaar Ali (’13), Matt Dotsey (’12), Max Bliss (’14) and Nick Alesandrini (’12); the third, Helen See (’12), Ronny Fong (’12) and Winnie Cheng (’12).

One of East’s three teams that will participate in the competition, the Black Tie Robotics (the aforementioned team two), worked on finishing half of the four bar linkage—the part that allows one to move the bot’s claw up and down—finished the base and, finally, got to start driving its creation.

At the end of the club’s activities, members Anderson and Bliss  competed to determine who could drive the robot better in order to decide who will drive the robot in the forthcoming competition. Unfortunately, the winner was undecided.

For more information about the upcoming Robotics competition check out its promotional video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP7QhdFLndQ