Team Sprocket, competing in the FIRST Robotics Championships in Houston last weekend for the first time since 2011, made it all the way to the quarterfinal rounds.  

The team earned a spot in the world competition on a wild card. The Brahmas had lost in the Orange County regional tournament; however, one of the teams that won had already qualified and the team was able to move on to worlds.

The Brahmas qualified to make the worlds-level competition, ranking ninth in the Newton Subdivision level out of 68 other teams on April 21. The day after, the team progressed as alliance captains and were paired with two other teams from Washington.

“Every single team at worlds qualified at an earlier regional or district event, so the skill level at worlds was drastically increased from a regional,” senior Engineering captain Brian Song said.

The goal of the round was to get the robot to place gears on a peg, shoot fuel into a boiler and climb up a rope for points. Song ran the secondary system, which was used to perform the tasks given for the round, while freshman Calvin Ung drove the robot itself. The Brahmas named the robot JMH, the initials of teacher Johnny Hwang’s late son.

The team lost the final round of three after losing the first and winning the second.

“Making it to championships was already exciting for me, but making it so far while competing with the best teams in the world was a whole other experience,” Song said.