After a long couple of days competing at the Central Illinois Regional robotics competition, the WildStang robotics team came out with some intense spirit and were able to punch their way through getting a ticket to compete at the FRC Worlds competition in Houston from April 20th to April 23rd. 

The WildStang robotics team was founded in 1996, and originally only consisted of students from RMHS and Wheeling High School. As the popularity of the program started to grow, they opened up to all of the students in District 214 and they also have a partnership with feeder District 23.

Head coach Harrison Drake explains that WildStang is structured like a small business, where the students are taught and exposed to different aspects of being involved in a modern business environment. “The goal of WildStang is to allow students to explore future career paths in a fail-safe environment.” The students learn about mechanical, electrical, and software engineering, manufacturing trades, social media management, project management, data sciences, and many other skills whether they are technical or not. 

The WildStang’s competition season takes place between early January and ends at the world competition in late April, which really emphasizes the amount of effort these students put in. Drake explains that “the first 6 weeks of that time are spent designing, constructing, and iterating the robot for that year’s game,” with the remainder of the time typically spent by the students practicing for the competitions. In addition to that, skill development in mechanical, electrical, and software engineering takes place year-round. “Skills developed during this time are used to improve the team’s competitiveness come competition season in the spring.”

Due to COVID complications, the program has taken a pretty big toll, like many other programs. Drake describes that “competitive robotics is an inherently hands-on activity which became nearly impossible,” but these students persevered and were able to learn the basics of the program remotely, and built 4 miniature robots last year. Since the return of in-person classes, the students involved with the program were driven to come back and be better than ever. 

The success of the program has grown exponentially, allowing them to create two different teams for the students to compete with, team 111 WildStang and 112 PlusOne for this 2022 season. The teams are heading into the Midwest Regional Championship which takes place on April 8th and 9th. Our wishes go out to the WildStang Robotics team and the RMHS students involved who are tackling these competitions.