The College Park Cavbots, who began competing in 2019, started their latest competition season with a bang. The robotics team secured a monumental first-place win at the Remix competition hosted by Texas Torque.

“Using their amazing blocking and driving skills, Cavbots and the rest of their alliance surprisingly pulled through and won the competition,” member Jia Esparza said.

The win was surprising because the team entered the alliance section as the underdogs before their alliance pulled through for the win.

“The alliance selection happened as the game was played in teams of three—three robots blocking the other three from shooting their rings into the hoop. The top eight teams got to take turns selecting two more teams for their playoff alliance and Cavbots was surprisingly picked by the top team, the Robonauts,” Esparza said.

The team consisted of veterans and rookies, who worked hard to achieve a win.

“I am most proud of achieving this win with half of the attending people being rookie team members, and the driver of the robot only having driven at one prior competition,” team captain Emmalyn Dorscheid said.

The Cavbots have already spent countless hours building their robot, which is designed to climb a structure and shoot a foam ring through a hoop.

“Last January, after finding out what the game for this competition would be, we immediately started working on the design of the robot. The mechanical sub-team then manufactured and built the robot. When that was finished, it was given to the electrical sub-team to wire it, and they then gave it to our programming sub-team when they were finished,” Dorscheid said.

The Cavbots had just eight weeks to build their robot after receiving the new challenge.

“We meet at the lab between five and six days every week, for four to five hours, sometimes more. First semester of school, we only meet two to three days a week, but we use that time to train new people,” Dorscheid said.

The Cavbots have some great new rookie members this year, who are already making strong contributions to the team. They also have many amazing returning members, who will help the team improve throughout the year.

“I expect that we will continue to do well and finish in semi-finals or finals this year. We have a good group of people on the team, who I think will help lead the team to success,” Dorscheid said.

The Cavbots are aiming to win a blue banner this year, which teams receive for winning finals.

“I also want the team to make it to state competitions and possibly even the world competition. I want us to do well this year as this is my last year on the team,” Dorscheid said.

The Cavbots have a great year ahead of them as their new members continue to learn and improve, setting them up for even more success.

  “I am most proud of achieving this win with half of the attending people being rookie team members, and the driver of the robot only having driven at one prior competition,” Dorscheid said.