By Sameeha Jilani
Theme Editor
The Beach Cities Robotics team qualified for the Robotics World Championships after placing third on March 22 at the Los Angeles Regional Competition.
The team is currently in St. Louis, Missouri, competing against 66 other teams in the World Championship. Its robot is designed to shoot basketballs.
“I am very excited that we are able to go to the championships this year, especially because of how hard we have worked this year,” business and marketing vice team captain junior Lauren Gulland said. “We made a lot of improvements to our robot, which was really challenging, but the end result was amazing.”
The team is comprised of students from both Mira Costa and Redondo Union High School, who work on building and improving one robot and compete in two or three large competitions throughout the year.
“Team members work hard in the lab and at competitions,” team captain and Costa senior Ryan Gulland said. “At competitions, we make sure to keep everybody involved by having a rotating slot in the pit crew so that everyone gets hands-on experience working with the robot.”
In the lab, members work as programmers, computer-aided designers, prototypers, machinists and assemblers, all of which are critical to building a quality robot.
The team is comprised of three different segments, including the pit crew, a scouting team and a business and marketing team. These different segments repair robots, collect and analyze data and organize sponsorships and fund raisers for the team.
“I think that this year we really hit our stride in every component of the competition: our robot, drivers, and alliance picks,” scouting team captain senior Milo Davis said. “All the different aspects of our strategy came together and allowed us to win.”
The Beach Cities Robotics team played 10 matches. It won the quality award sponsored by Motorola. The robotics competition also recognized Ryan Gulland as a FIRST Dean’s List finalist for achieving technical expertise.
“Ryan Gulland is a driving force behind our team,” Davis said. “He is one of the smartest people I have ever met, and he is always so dedicated to bettering the team. He is the most deserving person I know, and he absolutely deserves to be a FIRST Dean’s List finalist.”
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