The Upper School members of the Robotics team prepared for two competitions in which their six-week built “shooter” robot will throw yoga-ball sized balls to score goals and collaborate with other teams.

During build season, which lasted from Jan. 6 to Feb. 18, members of the robotics team, called 1072, created a robot that will be judged based on its throwing and catching abilities.

This year’s robot posed a different challenge compared to last year’s. Last year’s competition involved having the robot spin around and shoot out Frisbees.

This year, the robot is required to pick up and shoot an air-filled exercise ball over a net using a slingshot mechanism. In the competition, called “Aerial Assist,” teams have to not only shoot the yoga ball into a target, but also work in conjunction with other teams in order to score higher.

Some team members found it a challenge to keep up with time restraints this year.

 “We had to rush at the end to get everything done. Because we weren’t able to get the shooter on in time, we will have to get that done at the conference when we get there,” Nina Levy (9) said.

During the build period, students worked the entire week: school days, weekends, and breaks.

“It’s definitely intense; we were staying after school every day until about eight, and we were here all of break for up to 10 hours working on the robot,” President Sarika Bajaj (12) said.

Even though the build season ended last week, members of the robotics team are allowed two extra weeks to work on any remaining parts of the project.

The robotics team will attend two competitions: the Central Valley Regional held at the Madera South High School from March 7 to 9 and the Silicon Valley Regional at the San Jose State University from April 3 to 5.