Entering his fourth year on TechHOUNDS Robotics Team 868, Akash Shankar, team leader and senior, said he’s feeling just as excited as ever to begin competitions.

“We’re going to be strong this year, we have a great team, one of the best teams that I remember,” he said.

As the team leader,  Shankar is responsible for supervising the TechHOUNDS’ goal of building a viable robot.

“I just kind of oversee all of the divisions, and I make sure everything’s running smoothly,” he said. “I make sure what competitions we want to go to. If there’s any problems I make sure I take care of that.”

Shankar, along with approximately 80 other members of TechHOUNDS, meet every day after school for three hours, according to George Giltner, head coach of the TechHOUNDS Robotics Team 868.

“Each year we get a new game to play and we have to design, build, test, prototype a robot,” he said. Giltner added that the team has six weeks to complete its job.

This year, the assignment is to pick up a Frisbee and shoot it into goals of differing heights. To help accomplish this task, TechHOUNDS splits into six divisions: Robot Operations, Construction, Electrical and Programming, Public Relations, Animation and Website.

Senior Stephen Thompson works in the Robot Operations division.

“What we’re doing right now is we’re taking these wheels and we’re mounting them to these small motors,” he said. “(The motors) are going to spin really fast and they’re going to shoot the Frisbees once individually through this channel and that’s going to hopefully hit the target.”

According to Giltner, members like Thompson commit much of their free time to perfecting the project.

“(TechHOUNDS) is under the club category, but to me a club might meet once a month or once a week type of thing. This is a full-time commitment,” he said. “You need to commit time as if you would commit time to a marching band or a football team.”

However, Shankar said the valuable lessons he’s taken from TechHOUNDS have made the time spent worth it.

“You get to talk to people, you learn how to manage things, manage time, manage school work with your TechHOUNDS,” he said.

The same holds true for sophomore Agustina Salusso, who works in the Public Relations division.

“(I’ve learned) how to communicate with people mostly because you have to really have to get through to them,” he said.

When the robot is complete, TechHOUNDS will compete in competitions at Purdue University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, as well as in St. Louis.

“Our goal is to win,” Shankar said. “But you also got to keep in mind that (TechHOUNDS) is just a club, and you want to really have fun and enjoy it.”

However, Shankar went on to say that after four years of competition, the club has become a passion for him.

Giltner agreed.

“It’s absolutely amazing that students can come up with an idea in their head and then actually build it in six weeks,” Giltner said. “It’s a very, very wonderful feeling.”