Cuba City students bring competition-ready robot to school board meeting

Cuba City High School’s robotics team, Team 15382, demonstrated their competition robot and described months of design and programming work during the board’s regular meeting. Coach Austin introduced the presentation and student leaders, including Cameron Hendrickson, explained how components such as a bucket, claw and lifting slides work together to score points under this year’s game rules.

“We’re pretty proud of our robot design this year so we’re feeling optimistic,” said Cameron Hendrickson, a junior and member of the team’s management and social-media group. Students described the engineering process: multiple prototypes for a 3D‑printed bucket, servo-driven gear assemblies and tradeoffs related to size restrictions and the need to climb to reach higher scoring bars. The team said programming — using Java blocks and other tools — remains a major challenge, particularly for the autonomous portion of matches when the robot must operate without driver input.

Team members said practices run two to three hours twice a week with an intensified practice schedule the week before competitions. They listed two upcoming events: a Greenfield competition (drive up Dec. 6, compete Dec. 7) and a Lakeshore qualifier in Manitowoc (travel Dec. 20, compete Dec. 21). The students also noted outreach efforts, including a PTO maze fundraiser at a fall festival.

Board members and residents applauded at the end of the demonstration and asked several practical questions about driver roles, timing (30 seconds autonomous, two-minute driver period) and scoring. The presentation concluded as the team fielded questions and reiterated plans for further programming work ahead of competitions.