By Kaylee King & Joseph Slye – website editor and staff writer

On April 2, Meadville Area Senior High will host the 15th annual RoboBOTS competition. Due to the large number of new students joining the robotics class this year, Saegertown will send four teams to the competition, all of which are almost at full capacity. 

With eight total members (seven of those being in their first year of robotics), junior Quincy Zook’s team is completely full. Zook is one of two students in their third year of robotics. This year he will be bringing his group the “Terminators” to the competition using their bot “Redemption.” They have high hopes of making up for last year’s loss.

“I think that our chance of winning is high because of our captain’s experience,” freshman Casey Ferguson said. “His plan is well laid out and he knows what he’s doing.”

Junior Joseph Slye, the other student in their third year, is leading a group of seven members called the “Cow Pushers,” bringing their bot “Big Spike.” The group plans on putting up a fight at the competition.

Sophomore Alexa Lynn is in her second year of robotics. She’s leading the “Tropics,” her group of five. The all female Tropics team will battle with their bot “Tucan Sam.”

“[Lynn’s] idea is really well planned out and it is going to work,” freshman Raya Schlosser said, “I feel like we have a good chance of winning.”

Senior Andrew Rockwell, participating in his second year of robotics, is leading a group of seven with six first-year members. He is bringing their bot “Big Weld” to the competition as the captain of the “A Team.” The A Team has recently increased efforts to make Big Weld the best they can and are pushing each other to get ready for the competition.

“We’ve been working really hard because we really want to win,” freshman Elliot McWright said. All Saegertown teams are advised by technology teacher George Nahay. 

This year, 25 teams from 12 schools will participate in the competition which is sponsored by the Northwestern Pennsylvania chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association. 

Admission is free. Doors open at 8 a.m. and the tournament begins at 9 a.m. The event will be streamed by Meadville Media. For more information, visit metalsinmotion.org.