By Mary O’KEEFE

Clark Magnet High School Circuit Breakers robotics team 696 is getting ready, along with thousands of other high school robotics teams, for this year’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robot competition. The description of the type of game in the competition will be released on Jan. 7, 2023. From that point forward teams only have a few weeks to decide how they will play the game; for example, offensively or defensively, then design and build the robot.

But for Clark students this is just another day in the world of robots … and Team 696 loves a challenge. The team is coming off a first place win at this summer’s Gene Haas Foundation Beach Blitz held at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo.

Dino Hunter, a senior at Clark, is the lead electrical person and programmer with 696. He said the team’s winning robot was the fastest and more consistent.

“It was one of the fastest [robots in FIRST] in California,” he said.

Each year the FIRST competition announces the type of game that robots are to play. In the past the games have been a type of basketball, soccer and even a form of robotic tic-tac-toe. In almost every game robots can gain points by being able to lift, or climb, themselves up off the field floor. The Clark robot was able to do this every time.

Alex Boghossian is a senior and part of the manufacture and construction sub-team of 696. He has found Team 696 has taught him many skills including leadership and dealing with all type of personalities.

Team 696 has gone through some changes lately. In the past only juniors and seniors could join the team but now it is open to students in all grades. Both Boghossian and Hunter think this is a good move.

“It’s a great opportunity for [upperclassmen] to train [underclassmen] students,” Boghossian said.

Hunter said a lot of teams this year are “rookie” teams so the chance to mentor is something he is looking forward to.

“We want to always make robots fun,” he said.

When the challenge is released most teams take time to run through a checklist of what will need to be done and then brainstorm on design.

“Everybody gets hyped up thinking what [the robot] might be like,” Hunter said. “Usually we discuss the design and everyone shares their input.”

Hunter and Boghossian are excited about the next challenge while acknowledging their last year on Team 696. They are very proud of what they have accomplished while on the team and their latest first place win. Though they have had a few weeks to bask in that victory, almost immediately they began thinking of what needs to be done to make the next robot even better. They’ll strategize what went right and what needed improvement as they prepare for the next game … and the next competition.