The Robotics team, the Second Law Enforcers, attended the World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri at the America’s Center from April 25 to April 30. The team ranked an overall 35 out of 68, with seven wins and three losses.

The competition was split into six subdivisions named after scientists: Archimedes, Carson, Curie, Daly, Darwin and Tesla. Each field consisted of 60-70 teams who competed in alliance teams of three. These alliances differed for every match in the qualification round.

“We competed with a lot of very good teams that had high scores  [on the Daly field]. I was very proud that we were able to match a lot of these teams on one of the hardest fields and even beat one of the World Champions in a match,” senior Zarin Salem said.

In the game, the first 15 seconds is dedicated to an autonomous period where the robot is operated by preprogrammed instructions. After this period is over, drivers take control of the robots for two minutes and 15 seconds to earn as many points as possible by collecting and shooting balls, placing gears on pegs and climbing a rope.

“By being on drive team, I really got to know more people on the team because I had to interact with all aspects of the team to have a working robot. I also learned how to think quickly, and negotiate with people I don’t know,” freshman Emmy Nollman said.

The first day of competition on April 26 began with qualification rounds and ended with an opening ceremony. Each country and state in the United States was represented by select people who reside in the region and their corresponding flag. The founders of For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology (FIRST) spoke alongside special guests Vice President of Monsanto and Kenichi Ebina, eighth season winner of America’s Got Talent.

“The opening ceremony was different than I remember other ones. Normally, Dean Kamen [founder of FIRST] is the primary speaker and talks for a long time. This time, there were a variety of speakers, from different fields, that talked about exciting breakthroughs in their field,” math teacher and coach Michele Hall said.

The second day of competition held the rest of the 114 qualification matches. By the third day, alliance selections were picked. This was where the top eight ranked teams chose who they wanted on their team during the playoffs which consisted of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

“It was definitely a disappointment to not make it into the playoffs in St. Louis, but we were up against some tough competition. I am confident that we held our own there,” senior Team Captain Prashant Swami said.

After the finals on each subdivision were complete, each alliance winner competed as a representative of their subdivision on the Einstein field in a round robin style. In the end, the alliance from the Daly field scored the most points and won the competition.