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Standing next to his teammates, Senior Nicholas Spivey holds a certificate at a robotics competition. Texas High’s robotics team has been preparing for the upcoming season.

The sounds of drills and bots scraping in the robotics lab echoes throughout the CTE Center. As Texas High begins their seventh season into robotics, students and teachers alike look forward to the VEX over under season. With no sight of losing progress, Texas High will soon be competition ready.

“Robotics has been going well for this year,” robotics coach Mark Ahrens said. “We want to accomplish what we have done last year and more, we hope to qualify for worlds this year”.

For the past four years, T-Bots made it to regionals twice, nationals and UIL State three times and have won several awards and trophies for the district. 

“Texas High has won fourteen awards in the past three years, more than what our club has won since it began,” senior Salem Alonge said. “I believe as long as each team focuses on what they are good at, we will win several more awards.”

Although no tournaments won’t be played till Oct. 13, Texas High scrimmaged with local robotics teams and created mock up tournaments to test out their designs. Just recently, they won first place in the Miller Grove scrimmage with a finals score of 91-56 for 3350C, with 3350A placing third and 3350H placing fourth.

“The scrimmage went great,” junior Evan Wyche said. “I’m glad I got to test out my robot and succeed in where I could not last year. I’m ready for our first tournament next month.”

New freshmen also use the scrimmage to get hands-on experience. As more and more join the UIL team, seniors constantly juggle the goals of winning and mentoring them to leave a legacy. 

“It’s hard trying to work in robotics while having to teach new kids,” senior Gavin Smith said. “But that shouldn’t stop me or my other teammates from being able to succeed. I think we will be able to qualify for worlds considering our current capabilities.” 

As the season progresses, Texas High’s future in VRC  looks bright with more awards won and more students taking interest in V5 robotics. T-Bots have twelve competitions this year, and T-High Robotics plans to do well in all of them.