With the Toll Gate Robo-Titans moving on to the World Competition in late April, let’s have an interview with the coach of the program. After the Titans dominate performance in the State Championship, they are preparing to travel to Texas to represent the school and hopefully take home gold. Below is an interview with the mastermind of the program on how the program began and developed into today.
What inspired you to start the robotics program at our school?
“The original group of kids were really interested and passionate about doing the FIRST competition. They were really motivated”
What did the program look like in its very first year?
“It was a big learning curve, we really had never touched any of these things. The kids worked really hard and actually ended up having a pretty solid team going into states.”
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when starting the program?
“Lack of experience for sure, programming was a really hard time, we had to learn it all from scratch. It was really hard getting the robot to do what we wanted to.”
How did you gain interest from students in the early days?
“A lot of the kids who come into the room and see the setup and are super interested and have passion are really the ones who I want joining.”
How has the program evolved over the years?
“Every year we improve, learning off of last year, and we just keep leveling up and improving on what we did the last year.”
What has been the biggest change since the program started?(Culture?)
“The quality of our work and the robot, there’s newer parts and more resources available to us to help us improve our robot. 3D printing has been a big part of this year’s robot, especially for the prototypes.”
What do you think was the biggest factor that led to the team winning the state championship?
“Definitely the hard work and the late nights. Everyone was very committed and always on the same page.”
What challenges did the team overcome on the way to the championship?
“Coding has been very tough, there are so many complex moving parts and the code team has done such a fantastic job.”
How did the students prepare differently this year compared to previous years?
“They were so determined to win this year, from day one they were gunning for states and were determined to go worlds.”
What was your reaction when the team won the state title and found out they were going to worlds?
“It was an overwhelming joy, I was definitely really happy for the team… but I knew that it was going to be a lot more work and I knew how hard it was going to be.”
What does qualifying for the world competition mean to you and the team?
“It validates that we have one of the best teams in the state, definitely shows how much work these guys put in and I am beyond proud of each member.”
How well prepared is the team for the big stage?
“We’ve improved our code,… got a custom made chassis, and improved the overall speed of the robot, and how efficient it is.”
What do you think will be the biggest challenges at the world competition?
“All of these teams have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of funding and professional coders and engineers working on their bots. The skill gap between states and worlds is beyond massive.”
What are your expectations going into worlds?
“We are looking to be within the top ⅓ of the teams going. We always want to win but, I mean these teams are amazing and top ⅓ is an incredible honor.”
What are you most proud of this year?
“I’m so proud of their dedication and how we were really able to take it to the next level, I mean everything this year, from the fully custom robot, to winning states and going to worlds, I mean this team has really done it all and I’m so proud of each of them.
What has been the best experience in your time as a coach?
“It’s honestly just this entire year, I mean I’ve had most of these kids in class since
What lessons have you learned as a coach and teacher through this journey?
What do you hope the future holds for the robotics program?
“I’m hoping to bring some new kids in, 75% of the team is leaving, we already have some really solid students and I’m excited to see what next year brings.
