The members of Oakville Robotics team 9328 stood around the field proudly watching as the robot they’d been working on for months functioned perfectly.

The first robotics meet of the year was held on Dec. 9 at St. Louis Community College-Wildwood. The two OHS teams, 9328 and 9612, were up late the night before the competition putting finishing touches on their bots. All of this hard work seemed to pay off for 9328 when their creation functioned just as they hoped it would.

“For the first two games, we actually did fantastic,” 9328 captain Sheldon Salins (12) said. “We did what we were supposed to. The main function was completely working as expected.”

Little did they know things were about to take a turn for the worst. About halfway through the competition, the team began experiencing technical problems. The USB hub was not working, which prevented the drivers from being able to control the robot. Then, in the last round, the robot’s code killed itself and the servos attacked each other, causing them to overheat and break.

Even though the team struggled in the second half of the meet, they were still extremely proud of their robot. “We don’t have to completely redo everything, which is good,” said Salins. “And the main system is awesome actually, so I’m excited.”

The OHS robotics teams will be competing next on Jan. 27 at Pattonville High School.