By Theresa Ekdom
TRAVERSE CITY – Programming and wiring issues plagued the Houghton Lake Robocats during their First Robotics match in Traverse City March 1-3, finishing 36th out of 40.
Teams form an alliance of three to compete and earn as many points as possible.
Each match is divided into two stages. The first 15 seconds the robots operate without a drive team and can receive points by moving power cubes to plates or by crossing a line. The second stage the drivers have 2 minutes 15 seconds to operate the robots, moving the power cubes onto plates or through openings. During the final 30 seconds of each match the robots are supposed to lift themselves off the ground.
Despite their loss, the team is working on improvements to their robot.
‘We will complete our lift and gripping mechanism the week prior to our next competition and hope to have much better luck in Midland,’ Mentor Darrell Partenio said.
