Four West Ridge Middle School seventh-graders are going to the U.S. Robotics Championship for VEX robotics in Council Bluff, Iowa, in April after their team Over the Hedge mentored by parent Larry Knipp and robotics coach Jason Spodick won a regional competition at Hill Country Middle School on Jan. 28.

Both Hill Country and West Ridge fielded other teams in the competition, but only the one composed of Mitchell Knipp, Kusal Pedarla, Major Ritchie and Raghav Sharma advanced.

The winning team learn robotics every day from Coach Spodick, and they also practice about six hours a week in Sharmas garage, which includes a rudimentary practice field. Together they designed, developed and programmed their VEX EDR robot.

We have about 120 kids in six robotics classes, Spodick said. All of these boys have been in them at West Ridge.

Students can take this elective once, but teams like Over the Hedge continue building and practicing on their own with the help of parent mentors.

Twenty-six teams competed, and Over the Hedge scored winning points when their robot lifted many yellow stars that look like jacks and threw them over a fence, clearing the field of play. Extra points were earned for the high hang, each time their robot lifted itself a foot off the ground by attaching to a single post during the competition.

Larry Knipp proudly said many teams were unable to do this trick.

Team members said they made many adjustments to their robot before it was ready to compete, because they realized it could be easily tipped over. After their changes, the robot was stabilized and up to the challenge.

Sharma said it took the team between three to four months to build the robot. He pointed out that the design evolves over time. Since their robot is made of metal, the team can strategically cut parts down to a size they need.

I like the adventure in building the robot, testing new ideas to see where we might want to go, Sharma said. The fun is in using it.

Though Sharma loves building robots, his goal for now is to be a great soccer player.

Knipp noted that a key was planning ahead.

The team started designing in September for the competition in January, Knipp said.

Knipp and teammate Kusal Pedarla, are thinking of engineering careers.

Ritchie says, for now, he wants to be a mechanic.

Knipp said of the win, his greatest pleasure was actually seeing something we made, accomplish something.

Im looking forward to seeing snow when we go to Iowa for the championship, Sharma said.

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West Ridge robotics team maneuvers into national championship - Austin American-Statesman