The GearCats gear up for an upcoming competition season with plenty of plans and strategies. During the present offseason, everyone is working hard to make sure the team is placed just where they want to be.

  Millbrook’s robotics club, also known as the Millbrook GearCats, was originally founded in 2016 and is now thriving more than ever. The team is registered in the First Robotics Competition (FRC) and the team’s main goal is to enhance young minds in STEM and critical thinking skills.

  Before the competition season starts, the club meets every Wednesday in the media center after school until 3:30 p.m. The team breaks off into sub-teams which include mechanical, electrical, Computer Aided Design (CAD), programming, and business. Each sub-team has a student executive to lead and guide the others in their area of expertise. These meetings usually span from September through December.

  Already this year the team has competed in two off-season competitions: Thunder Herd of Robots (THOR)  and Doyenne. THOR is a competition that everyone can participate in that uses the same rules as the game from the previous year. Doyenne is similar to THOR but only female and non-binary students are allowed to participate to encourage the women in STEM movement. The GearCats team placed runner-up in THOR and made it into the semi-finals in Doyenne.

  GearCats Vice President, junior Rachel Ward, said, “The build season begins in January with Kickoff, where the official game is presented, demonstrating the tasks our robot will need to be able to perform. Immediately after, we transition to a brainstorming period where we discuss various potential designs with our team members and mentors, and construct prototypes before deciding on a final design.”

  It is a long and hard process to develop and produce a robot and for all of the sub-teams to work together and have one final goal in mind is a challenge. Mechanical Executive, sophomore Audrey Williams, said, “Some of the most challenging parts of building the robot is that we only have a limited amount of time to get the robot ready for competition. On top of that, we have to have build sessions on the weekends at a place off campus, which means that not everybody can consistently make it and we can be short of people sometimes.”

  For this upcoming season, the GearCats have gotten lucky and have received a build space off campus from one of their sponsors free of charge. The build space is the perfect size for them to practice and advance their new robot. 

  Electrical Executive, sophomore Grey Hall, said, “Robotics is more than just science. Even if you’re not into the electrical or programming parts, marketing and mechanical are also available. Anyone that just enjoys building things will enjoy mechanical and anyone who enjoys graphic design will enjoy marketing.”

  Robotics is a great place to meet and interact with all kinds of people whether it be at competitions with plenty of other teams or simply joining the club and attending their weekly meetings.