Our robotics team got 4th out of 21. Well, it was 5th, but we tied with the other team, so I'd say we deserve 4th.

It was a fun day. I learned a lot about robotics, and also the creative, innovative ideas that other teams came up with. The goal was robot 'basketball' and the wide range of robots was amazing.

There were robots with catapults, robots with forklifts, robots with cranes, robots with arms, robots with pumps... it was awesome. I really enjoyed watching these robots in action. It was cool to see each team's creativity and unique spirit they brought to the arena.

The teams that beat us were really good. The only thing that irritated me was that if we gotten LOWER in the first rounds, we would have stood a better chance at the gold. It was just the arrangement of teams that was messed up.

The winning robot, named "THE TANK" was a plastic-armored, pneumatic-driven monster. It used a pneumatic arm to pick up the ball and then dunk it into the net, shooting up 6 feet in mere seconds. It was cool, but you could see the idea was a bit unoriginal and simple. On top of that, Mr. Lewis estimated the cost of the robot to be around $5000, as the pneumatics were probably $2000 by themselves. So we got beat by a rich school, while our robot was made from junkyard trash and scavenged parts. It was depressing. I guess money is everything.

The second place robot we nicknamed "Home Hardware" as the robot was sponsored by the company and featured a big red logo on the side. They had an awesome idea for their robot. It had a small hole in front where the ball would roll into. Then two small 'doors' would swing down and lock the ball inside. When they approached the net, an arm would swing down and the doors would open to allow it entry. It would fit neatly inside, scoop the ball up, and dunk it in. It was a marvel of engineering.

The third place robot was very similar to ours, but a lot smaller, expensive and faster. It was the fastest robot there, and we named it "Speedy." It had a forklift style idea, but theirs was tilted foward, allowing the arm to clear the rim with room to spare. We thought they would win, but unfortunately, their arm broke down halfway through their round, leaving them stranded. It was a cool robot, but not very sturdy.

All in all, the competition was rough, but the day was fun. That was the end of the line for us, but good luck to Tank for the nationals. If they win, at least we can say "We lost to the national champion."