The robotics team Sprockets & Screws is ranked 7th out of 33 Chicago teams after the First Tech Challenge competition Dec. 11, where they placed first out of 10 teams. The We Byte team who also competed in the competition and placed fifth. They are now 23rd out of 33 in Chicago. 

Sprockets & Screws is hoping to move into first rank in their final competition before regionals on Feb. 29, while We Byte hopes to improve their record. Every competition consists of five matches. Only 10 of the 15 matches they will participate in will count toward regionals. As the members of We Byte are mostly new to the team, they are hoping to use their gained experience in this most recent competition to improve their standing in regionals. 

Sprockets & Screws’s record was 4-1 for their matches on Dec. 11. We Byte scored 3-2. We Byte was able to overcome several problems in their design in order to win their first matches but lost the last two due to one of their lift-mechanisms not functioning.

Darren Fuller, the robotics team adviser, said that aside from some final modifications both teams are in a great position to continue to do well. 

Mr. Fuller said that the team is already well versed in working with the COVID-19 restrictions. 

“We figured out how to work safely last year while remote,” Mr. Fuller said. “We were meeting on Saturdays even when school was remote. So we’ve had lots of practice at keeping safe.”