On Feb. 16, the Elkhorn North Robotics team, El Zeusadores, won tournament champions at the Concordia Spring League. The next day, the same team, won the Judges’ award at the Millard North Vex Expo. These students became the first in school history to place at a robotics tournament.
“It felt good winning, we were all really hyped,” sophomore Sai Smaran said.
The El Zeusadores have made significant improvements to their robot since the previous year and have expanded their knowledge.
“Other teams are always improving, and so our teams are always hungry to build a better, faster, stronger, and smarter robot. They’ve been working hard all school year with that goal in mind,” robotics coach Chris Peters said.
They each enhanced their understanding of coding and building a robot by improving their techniques. Each person would share with the group any new research information they discovered. By doing so, it helps the robot perform at a higher level.
“We started off knowing nothing and have learned so much since,” Smaran said.
The focus this year was to create a more detailed plan on the building process of their machine. The team concentrated on other competitive categories in the competition, outside of judging the robot’s movement, such as the Judges’ award.
“We focused more on the aspects not related to the robot, like having a good notebook that documents the [building] process, and the interview [with the judges],” sophomore Tansi Praveen said.
Expanding their knowledge on robots and winning more awards is a large priority, but for the next season they hope to make it to State again and advance to Worlds from there. The El Zeusadores have put in long hours in order to perfect their complicated machine. Their hard work has truly paid off this season.
“They set very high goals for themselves and put in a ton of work to get there. I’m so happy for them,” Peters said.
Team members include: Carter Thies, Michael Carson, Sai Smaran Araveti, Tansi Praveen, and Zane Larson.
