Kennedy High School’s robotics team is putting their skills to the test. This year, they are making great strides.

The Cougar Bots have been a team for seven years. Alyssa Jacobson. It was created by a few students and teachers who were interested in the FTC Robotics program.

“A student heard about FTC Robotics and he wanted to get a team going, so he talked to a couple of people that he knew, then they said they would also be interested. They found two adults that actually worked outside the school at the time that were able to provide that mentorship that they needed to get started,” said Alyssa Jacobson, the team’s coach.

Jacobson has been the coach for Kennedy’s robotics team for two years. The team competes in at least six competitions each season.

“Each year we get a different game, so we have to build and design a robot to compete in that game. This year’s game is called Skystone, and the premise is that our robot will be able to hold these building blocks and stack them to build a skyscraper,” said Jacobson.

Kylie Shipp is one of the members of Cougar Bots. Shipp has been fascinated by robotics since she was in middle school. Shipp is a part of the marketing team. She likes the idea of being able to create new ideas.

“I heard about it in sixth grade, and I joined in seventh. It just always appealed to me, the building aspect, and being able to create new ideas,” said Shipp.

It takes a lot of time to be part of the robotics team. The robot is built in a minimum of three weeks depending on the type of robot. Although time-consuming, robotics is a fun way to connect with members of different communities who have the same interest. 

“We have this thing called Gracious Professionalism. Basically, that’s where we get to help each other and learn to grow as individual teams, but also as an entire group of people working towards a similar goal,” said Shipp.