Bobcat Robotics teams compete at state

This past weekend saw the two Thermopolis teams — Fistful of Axles and Aluminati — at the Wyoming State Championship in Casper, with Aluminati bringing home the Motivate Award. The team had previously won the Think Award at the Montana State Championships.

The Motivate Award, teacher London Jenks explained, is presented to the team representing the essence of the FIRST Tech challenge competition through team building, team spirit, showing enthusiasm and connections with the school and community.

“Community outreach is a lot of what it is,” Jenks said, noting the team has done community projects such as helping bag groceries during the holidays and presenting to local service groups such as Kiwanis and Rotary.

Both teams didn’t place well at the competition, Jenks said, and it’s likely they won’t be attending Regionals. But, there is the possibility they could get an invite to the World competition, but they won’t know about that until March 5.

Lane Randall, team captain for Aluminati, was also named as one of the two finalists in Wyoming for the Dean’s List award, though it won’t be known if he’s chosen as the winner until April.

The robots functioned well at the Wyoming State Championship, Jenks said, and there were some close matches they lost by only three points, “which is basically nothing when you’re scoring 100 to 400 points a match.”

The Robotics teams will still have some community events, and continue fundraising events for next year. They will also spend the summer getting next year’s drive train ready. The next season officially starts in September. Jenks again expressed his appreciation to the sponsors and those who have supported the program through fundraisers.