INDIANAPOLIS — Problem-solving, creativity, ingenuity — It all adds up to one very innovative IPS robotics team that has nearly 30 students who punched their ticket to the world championship in Dallas, Texas.
Cold Spring School will send five teams from their club to the competition, it will be the most out of all Indiana schools this year.
The competition is centered around a game, where students had to make a robot that finds a way to get balls in a goal.
“To be able to drive the robot, you have to learn all the pieces and just understanding what the robot can do,” said 13-year-old Mauricio Munos Morini, an eighth grader who’s been in the club since the third grade.
He worked with his team for months to perfect their robot.
“Our robot what it does it has an intake wheel to pick up the balls and shoot them either into the top goal or the bottom goal,” he told WRTV.
This year the competition is even more special for some of the kids.
“We had two of our strongest teams’ kids not qualify for worlds last year. They didn’t give up it just motivated them to do better and more and that’s a skill that robotics teaches,” said Genevieve Mcleish-Petty, a Computer Science Teacher & an assistant Robotics Coach for the team.
She told WRTV the team’s success is more than just achieving a major milestone, it’s breaking down barriers in S.T.E.M, a male-dominated field.
“This year we have more girls this year than we do boys,” said Mcleish-Petty
One of those girls is eighth grader Asmaa Amiri.
She was a part of the all-girls squad which won one of the highest honors at the state tournament.
“I'm proud of myself and the other teams,” she told WRTV.
Now she has her eyes on an even bigger prize, their first-ever world championship title.
“Winning is definitely a goal that we’re aiming for,” Amiri said.
For both the eighth graders, the competition is much bigger than showing the world what their machines can do.
“When you talk about robotics you mainly think about robots. It's mostly about the communication and the patience you have to have to be able to succeed,” said Munos Morini who hopes to use the skills he learns in the club to propel him into a career as an aerospace engineer.
“In robotics, I’ve learned to program, build and communicate with adults,” added Amiri. “It’s really important.”
The competition takes place May 6 through the 14 in Dallas, Texas.
