The Robotics Team has decided to take a break from going to the Annual World Robotics Championship in Detroit.

The Robotics Team went to the competition last year, competing with teams from all over the world. “It was a great opportunity to represent Wayne Hills High School at such a prestigious event,” says Robert Yost, the advisor of the Robotics Club. 

Although the team qualified to make it the World Championship, they decided not to go for several reasons. They encountered multiple complications including excessive costs to both build the robots and travel. Despite all the complications, the students that went enjoyed the experience of meeting other students who shared similar interests.

Regardless of the high costs, the robot was able to qualify for the annual World Robotics Championship held last April. The event included over 30,000 students from 60 countries all over the world and a variety of different robots and technologies.

Yost expressed why the club did not decide to enter the competition this year. “Entering the competition is a huge commitment to build the robots, and students would have to come in on the weekends and that would interfere with their extracurricular activities,” discouraging students to participate. The students also have to pay a mighty $300 each, not to mention the cost of travel and all the time spent prior to going to the competition.

Yost continues to have the Robotics Club meet after school every Thursday. Currently, the students are building a robot for an MIT challenge that is projected to shoot twelve ping pong balls.