TechHOUNDs, the robotics team, competed in the Crossroads Regional at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology from March 6 to 9. The team made it to semifinals. TechHOUNDs sponsor George Giltner said members struggled with consistently shooting balls of different pressures. According to TechHOUNDs member and sophomore Kalen Rudd, the competition was different because winning required strong team alliances.

The team experienced minor difficulties at the competition. Giltner said, “It overall went pretty smoothly, although we didn’t account for our chain breaking twice. We also had problems with inconsistent shooting.”

TechHOUNDs ranked 20th out of a total of 45 teams, and had an offensive power rating (OPR) of six. Rudd said, “An OPR rating takes statistically calculates how good a team is.”

The competition centered on teamwork between schools. Rudd said, “Everyone got paired with two random teams. If you guys didn’t work well together, you couldn’t win because the main way of getting points was cooperating between robots. Basically, good alliances meant a high seat.”

The next competition is the Boilermaker Regional from March 20 to 22 at Purdue University.