RoboJackets win state competition
Despite a shaky beginning to the statewide BEST Robotics competition on Saturday, the Starkville High School RoboJackets were able to win the event for the fifth time.
“This year was probably our best finish ever, with first in robot, first in marketing, first in booth, second in engineering notebook and second in spirit. I think that’s the highest we’ve ranked overall in five years,” said Denise Adair, one of the 65-member team’s coaches. “In the very first round, we had what we think was a battery failure, and you never want that to happen… The robot just kind of quit. We got to sit there, and watch everyone else run their robot. “
Despite the power failure, the team will compete in the BEST Robotics Regional Competition at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.
At Auburn, the RoboJackets will compete against around 55 other teams from across the eastern half of the country. If the team wins at regionals, it will mark the group’s second victory in a row.
“The Auburn competition is very stiff,” Denise Adair said. “Every year we’ve gone up a little bit. I don’t want to say I’d be happy with a top three finish. I’ll be happy with winning first, but it’s very, very tough.”
Starkville High junior Tyler Adair, the team’s director of engineering and Denise Adair’s son, echoed his mother’s comments about the difficulty of regionals, but said he felt the team had a chance.
“We have probably a 50 percent chance to follow up what we did last year,” he said.
He added that the felt having quality people in every division is the key to the team’s success.
“We have solid people all around, who like to do their jobs,” he said. “It’s kind of like a football team. You have solid people in every position.”
Getting the team to Auburn for the competition, which will run from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4, will be a $12,000 undertaking, and Denise Adair said the team is looking for donations of any amount
to help.
“Everybody that doesn’t have a conflict is going,” she said. “We have probably `10 to 15 sponsors, that have consistently sponsored us every year. We’ll take sponsorships between $2 and $3,000. It doesn’t matter. If a company wants to sponsor us, we will definitely take their money, and we’ll take their logo, and put it on our booth and on our brochure.”
To donate to the team, call 662-3244170, or email deniseadair1@hotmail.com.
“I think it’s a great program for the kids. They learn so much more than just about robots,” said Granville Barker a mentor to the team and the father of team members Abigail and Benjamin Barker, “They learn about marketing. They learn about using power tools, and making something from nothing.”