The robotics team placed 17 out of 50 teams at the offseason Cow Town Throw Down competition that occurred from Friday, Oct. 31 to Saturday, Nov. 1 at Lee’s Summit high school, which allowed new robotics participants to learn skills for January’s build season.

The previous year’s field and rules were used at the competition along with last year’s robot.

“[The competition] is just a way to get the team going again, thinking about the new build season and to let the new people know what a regional competition would be like,” robotics sponsor Marybeth Mattingly said.

While competing, students interested in driving the robot were able to try, however no building occurred since everything for the competition was already built.

Freshman Chris Greenfield enjoyed the competition and plans to work on the electrical portion of the robot, dealing with the autonomous mode where the robot is preprogrammed in its maneuvers.

“[The competition] was pretty good,” Greenfield said. “My favorite part was when we were competing in the autonomous mode because that’s when the robot [doesn’t need controlling] since it [was] programmed in.”

Even though the robotics team only plans to attend one competition, the Greater Kansas City First Regional, members are hopeful for a successful season.

“We’re looking forward to the new build season [which] starts the first Saturday of January,” Mattingly said. “We are excited to see what the new [robot event] is and what we get to build this year. I hope we do well.”