Rust may be for robotics, but the Lamar DiscoBots is a far from rusty team.

Jan. 22, the robotics team, the Lamar DiscoBots, competed in a robotics tournament located in Montgomery, TX, and received the Excellence Award from VEX Robotics, the highest achievement offered at the competition

Consisting of students Ellery McDaniel, Doruk Dalyanoğlu, Soumil Goyal, Taimur Ilahi, Isaac Harris, Nathan Reese, Japa Parikh, Chiamaka Ibekwe, and Eesa Vettical, the DiscoBots team members were awarded the highest scores in programming skills, the third highest in driver skills, ranked fourth overall in the qualifying matches, and even turned in the second best design notebook.

“I feel very satisfied with the team because this is what I demand of a team every year,” robotics coach David Cemer said. “I tell my students that they need to do all of the things, even if they do them poorly because they will get better at it if they continue doing everything.”

Designing and creating a robot is no easy feat, requiring thorough planning and organization. This means having a designated design team, manufacturing team, technology team, and operations team all working in unison on individual aspects of the project.

“Not only do you have the building of the robot, but you also have to drive the robot with controllers and ask the driver about their preferences,” sophomore Soumil Goyal, one of the programmers and manufactures on the team said. “You also need to be able to talk to the programmers and ask whether they will be able to program specific details.”

Once the team knew what function or task they wanted their robot to carry out, construction started to immediately take place, a collaborative process that heavily relies on constant communication. From the team’s perspective, this is perhaps the most important element to coming out of a tournament successful.

“The team with the best communication is the winner,” Goyal said. 

Not only was taking home the grand prize an outstanding achievement for the team, it also now serves as an opportunity for the DiscoBots to qualify for state competition, having met the score requirements on top of winning the Excellence Award. For those interested in robotics, the team highly encourages and welcomes others to join and make their contribution in future events and competitions.

“Being involved with robotics will be one of the best things in your life and it will be a strong memory that you can hold onto forever,” Goyal said.