TechHOUNDS prepares for competition season

By Beverly Jenkins
<bjenkins@hilite.org> 

The TechHOUNDS team is now just a few short weeks away from the beginning of competition season, which starts on Jan. 3.

“We’ll be at Kokomo with a few other teams to listen to the broadcast,” co-captain and junior Meera Chander said, refering to the date, when the rules and guidelines for this season’s game will be announced. “The Monday after that, we will host a Parents’ and Sponsors’ Night to reveal the game to our supporters, and we’re going to allow them to take part in our brainstorming process.”

After the game is announced, the robotics team will then be hard at work every day for the next six weeks during the build season, according to team sponsor George Giltner. “The team has prepared very well, and we’re excited to see what (the game) throws at us this year,” he said.

As of right now, the team isn’t quite sure what to anticipate for this season. “We’re given a different thing to accomplish every year. Sometimes we have to construct a robot that can pick things up, sometimes we have to build a robot that can put a basketball in a net, that sort of thing,” Giltner said.

While the game will be taking up most of the TechHOUNDS’s time, it will not be taking up all of it, according to Chander. 

“We still have much to do, such as fundraise. We’re still deep in the hole; it’s a very expensive program to be a part of,” she said. 

Chander added, “We’re all very excited to see what’s in store for the 2009 season.”