From March 14-16, Woodside will be welcoming robotics teams from all over the country, including teams from California and Hawaii. Woodside’s robotics team, also known as the Team 100 Wildhats, has been competing in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition since 1995. This year, they’ll be hosting it here in the Old and New Gym.
Hoping to take home a win, the team has been working on designing, building and fabricating their robot for the competition for the past eight weeks. A reveal video was sent out by FIRST Robotics, announcing this year’s game, Reefscape.
“Our robot this year will pick up PVC tubes and then score them on a coat hanger,” senior Andrew Hedricksen said. “Also, [our robot will] take four-square balls off the coat hangers and then climb on a welded steel cage suspended from a chain.”
Hendricksen is the integration lead and pit captain for the team.
“I basically do the main overall design of the robot as well as manage our pit crew and pit team during competition,” Hendricksen said.
Senior Angela Sobalvarro Castillo has been on Team 100 Wildhats for two years. She works as the team’s operator for competitions.
“[I] control the operations of the robot,” Sobalvarro Castillo said, “For example if we want to intake a ball, I’m the one with the controller to do that.”
Rookie members attended the Mechanical M-Ayhem competition at Menlo Atherton High School in November. FIRST Robotics Competition will be the first competition of the year for the entire team.
“It’s my first regional so I’m really excited,” freshman rookie Lucia Bellver Eymenn said.
So far, the season has been going well for Team 100 Wildhats.
“We have been getting a lot of rookies which is very helpful for the future of the team,” Sobalvarro Castillo said.
Although, there have been hiccups while building the robot.
“We were three weeks behind in building because we were running into a lot of issues,” Bellver Eymenn said. “It’s a challenging [robot] this year. But, we caught up and it’s going pretty well.”
Currently, Team 100 Wildhats is in the final stages of testing and getting their team ready for competition.
“I’m confident that we’re going to do well,” Sobalvarro Castillo said. “I’m also nervous, [because] anything can happen.”
