Frantically tightening down mechanical servos. Furiously typing out last bits of code. Watching as a machine that they have poured the past three months of their life into slowly move and do as it is expected, or hideously fail in front if their eyes. That was the life of Pattonville’s three FTC robotics teams on Dec. 7, when they competed at the year’s first tournament at Florissant Valley Community College.

Each of the three teams brought a pre-built and programmed robot to the college to compete against 30 other teams in their first attempt to qualify for the state competition in Rolla, Mo., in the spring.

The robots were built and programmed to specifically pick up and deposit 2-inch square cubes into four buckets placed on an elevated pendulum for points. Add in three other robots, a two-and-a-half minute time limit, and the ever-consistent failure of both mechanical and software parts; the challenge is much harder.

Junior Mark Raymond said, “[I think] the tournament went really well. All the teams worked really hard to get there, and the fruit of their labors was well-received in the form of awards.”

In the end, teams 2867 (Armored Division) and 7856 (Tactical Division) qualified for the tournament in Rolla. Meanwhile, team 2866 took home a programming award and the belief that they will qualify at the remaining qualifier tournament at Southeast Missouri State University in late January.

“I feel my team (2866: Covert Division) did OK, certainly not our best though. I feel that once we work out some programming issues and get some more driving practice in [we’ll do fine],” Raymond said about his team not qualifying for state in Rolla.

So for the meantime, the robotics participants will be refining and practicing with their robots on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, in hopes of qualifying for the state tournament and beyond.