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PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
Members of the team compete in a round.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
Team members focus on the challenge.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
Business team members talk to visitors about their project.
PHOTO BY LAURIE ANDERSON
Teams compete in the Dripping Springs High School gym.
On Saturday, Nov. 22, Dripping Springs High School’s BEST Robotics team, Dripping Logistics, welcomed schools from around the Hill Country region for a full day of head-to-head robot action. At the end of the day, the team rolled away with a ticket to the state competition in Dallas Dec. 11-13.
“The late nights and practices, the crash outs… it was all worth it,” said Hansini Agila Ramakrishnan, the team’s business lead. “Every single team - business, programming, scribes, manufacturing - gave it their all. And it paid off.”
The team won six awards - Judges Choice award - overall impression; Top Gun award - highest scoring seeding round; Exhibit award - best booth; Most Photogenic award - for the coolest looking robot; 3rd Place Overall - for head-to-head rounds; and 1st Place for the BEST Award.
The BEST Award in robotics is for the team that best embodies the “Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology” (BEST) concept, encompassing multiple aspects beyond just the robot’s performance. The award evaluates teams on their functionality and performance of the robot, engineering notebook, marketing presentation, team exhibit and interview, spirit and sportsmanship, and the quality of their project engineering notebook. It is considered the highest honor a team can achieve in the competition.
BEST (Boosting Engineering Science & Technology) Robotics is a national program for grades 6–12 that features an eight-week season that includes both on-field performance and judged presentations. This year the competition centers around an AI-theme game field called Factoids.
“We get a box of different consumables and materials that we can use. We’re restricted to those with four custom parts,” said Ramakrishnan. “We can use those to make a robot to perform tasks.”
The Dripping Logistics team has 19 members, and is 64% female.
“This year, all the drivers are women, which is pretty cool,” Ramakrishnan said.
Haylee Warren, mechanical / design lead, said it takes dedication to find consistency and top performance.
“Our team has developed exponentially over the past three years and it keeps getting better,” Warren said.
Team members said one of their favorite parts of being part of Dripping Logistics is the sense of community they feel.
“I love the teamwork aspect and the different career fields that join together to make something amazing,” Sarah Clarke, assistant project manager, said. “Meeting so many different people from different backgrounds and bonding over the love of robotics is the best!”
Guadalupe Martinez Garcia, marketing booth head, agreed.
“Also, anytime I have a hard time finding a solution to something I’m doing, there’s always someone willing to help out,” she said.
Cody Kapacziewski, who is on the manufacturing team, said he really enjoys finding out the tasks and completing them.
“It is called BEST for a reason - it is a great group of people,” Kapacziewski said. “We come up with outstanding ideas and we work together to accomplish cool things.”
Lara Gambacorta, project manager, said that finally being able to show off their hard work is one of the best parts of the competition. She encouraged other students to get involved.
“You need no prerequisite to join, all you need is the willingness to make mistakes and learn,” Gambacorta said.
