Motors hum, tools clatter, and laughter goes through the STEM lab in the Graham-McCarthy wing at Mount Carmel High School as students prepare for another season of Robotics.
The Robotics Club will begin its competition season in November according to the moderator, Mr. Caribee Collier, who has led the program since 2020.
Robotics is special at MC because it is almost entirely student-run, giving the students freedom and responsibility to design, build, and program their robots for tournaments against other schools.
“The whole idea is for the students to discover and create the robots and try to figure out how to get them to do what’s needed for the game that year,” said Mr. Collier. “The whole program is that coaches give limited input.”
He first became involved with the club five years ago when the original coach left MC.
“There was still a desire, and I taught some of the students who were part of [Robotics],” he said. “They wanted to keep it going, I wanted to keep it going, and so I got involved and learned about it.”
Robotics Club members work on their robots for competitions from the first days of school, and competitions tend to involve a long day of matches. Mr. Collier noted how teams must balance strategy, speed, and teamwork.
“A competition will typically last from around 8 a.m. to around 6 p.m., and there are two parts to a competition,” he said. “One is called the autonomous part, where teams program the robot to do some autonomous skill, and then there’s the team play, where there are four robots on the field, two versus two.”
During the autonomous part, the robot does everything itself; there are no members of the club controlling the robot.
Building a functioning robot requires both mechanical and coding skills. Members spend hours troubleshooting and testing their bots to perfect performance when they compete.
Students like junior Jeremy Ingram joined because of his love for hands-on creation.
“One, I really love building things,” Ingram said about why he is a member. “I also like to compete against other people to see how I can improve with my building skills, but then also learn from them.”
Robotics Club is not only about technology, but also about community. Ingram believes that the friendships formed through the club are one of its greatest strengths.
“The team aspect is actually really good, and I’ve made a bunch of friends from kids in my class, but also upperclassmen,” he said. “We use Robotics as a hangout room, so a lot of times you get to really talk about things and meet new people.”
Junior Jimi Goodman described the competitions as both entertaining and unpredictable.
“A lot of sitting around and just watching other people,” he said. He noted that participants sometimes get into the events in unusual ways… He remembers that one time, “this dude showed up dressed like a full wizard with a Gandalf staff and everything.”
Since Mr. Collier began moderating MC Robotics, the club has qualified for state twice, but in 2020 and 2022, they did not place first. Still, the pursuit of the top honor continues.
“The ultimate goal is to get to state,” Mr. Collier said. Robotics has been growing, but only a handful of students stay deeply committed throughout the season. “There are guys who kind of peek their heads in each day that come and go,” said Mr. Collier. “I think the guys who are really, truly interested tend to find their way to the club.”
Both Mr. Collier and the students see the value in independence and why it is so important for the Robotics Club.
“A lot more people should join because it’s really fun and you really get to build whatever you want,” said Ingram.
