After weeks over obsessing over building and maintaining a Robot, the Robotics Team won the state championships. On Saturday, Nov. 9, the Robotics team competed against the top schools in Texas and New Mexico.

“I thought we would have a tougher fight and I think our team was very, very good,” Khan said.

The team soared through the competition with no flaws. Earlier in practices, they had their robot’s pulley system had been malfunctioning and some of the strings on the iKhan’s arm were wearing thin.

“We went through the first half with no problems,” senior Kevin Ewart said. “We were really afraid that we were going to have a problem in the second round and then everything went smoothly. It was very surprising.”

However, this wasn’t their first competition. They won at regionals where they competed against the top school in the Dallas Hub, on Oct. 19, the team won regionals with a 500 point lead.

“It felt great to win and to prove ourselves against all the other schools,” senior Siva Ponnuru said.

The team meets for three hours on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays every week and for four hours on Sundays. The team mates normally laugh, critique and yell during their practices in order to bond, perfect the robot and simulate the matches.

“We spend the meets practicing on the playing field,” Ewart said. “That’s really what gives our team it’s edge. Also, we have everyone yell at the driver and spotter in order to prepare us for the meets.”

Stress isn’t new to the team. They began building their robot in Sept. and spent 6 weeks building two prototypes, testing them and perfecting them. Now, the team has a simple and sleek robot named iKhan. During Regionals,the team witnessed a problem which caused them to worry about their scores, but after hearing they had won the team felt thankful.

“We felt relieved more than anything, after winning,” Ewart said. “There had been a big scoring fiasco earlier. We were all biting our nails worried about what was going to happen.”

After that win, the teams’ practices were filled with sawdust, critiquing, joking and alterations. They fixed their robots and spent two weeks preparing for their bigger competition.

“We have to be better since we’re going to the next level,” teacher and team sponsor, Sohail Khan said. “We made a few changes and our drivers have to be mentally sharper and more prepared. We have a really good team and we’ve got a chance to be really competitive.”