Buckeye Robotics Regionals held at Cleveland State University

CLEVELAND — Saturday, the Buckeye Robotics Regionals were held at the Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center where High schools from all over the nation competed to make it to the world championship in Houston.

“The robots that are created in this competition showcase their ingenuity, their ability to design and construct an engineering device,” said competition cochair Peter Buca.

Inside the Wolstein Center, the energy was high while students competed for the first time in person since 2020.

“When I found out, like, I get to go back to real competition, I was absolutely so excited,” said student Evelyn McCarthy.

Evelyn is on one of 61 teams that traveled to Northeast Ohio to compete. Her team of more than 17 girls came from an all-girls school in Columbus. Their team, Murphy’s Outlaws, worked weeks to create their robot, “Herb.”

At regionals, the bots are brought to the field where they compete, and they earn points for a list of things including shots made in the upper and lower hub, efficiency, communication among your team, and finally hanging.

The coolest part is not just the bots and their performance, but also that it was all designed and built by high school students.

“You see, at some point during the season when they first get the challenge. You see this doll look like, ‘oh my gosh, how am I going to do that now?’” Buca said. “By the end of the season and this accomplishment, they are able to do that challenge.”

Accomplishments that Evelyn and another student, Kiera, have experienced for four years in a row. Each year they push for better robots while also encouraging people of all genders to join STEM.

“We know that STEM fields can be predominantly male-dominated, and we want to promote gender equality for all genders and especially gender minorities who need to be raised up in those fields,” said Kiera.

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