Hazardous at first glance, the knowledgeable Robotics team has been busy for weeks constructing a robot from scratch. And it was all leading up to today.

The team headed to Peoria today  to participate in the Central Illinois Regional competition over the next five days. The team will compete Friday and Saturday, putting their robot to the test in matches against other bots from schools from several states.

“It’s to learn the practical applications of the theory we are taught in school,” Nate Coirier,

sophomore team member, said. “The theories and formulas taught in math and science, in general.”

The team spent six weeks working on a robot to complete tasks and challenges. Some team members constructed the robot’s frame while others worked on its software, and together they assembled a completed bot.

“It will probably do pretty well,” Coirier said about the robot’s chances. “We’ve worked on it for exactly six weeks; that’s as long as we get. It’s dishwasher sized, and can lift totes.”

The robot will go through several challenges on Friday and Saturday to demonstrate its proficiencies after the team sets up and practices on Thursday.

“We are given a ton of competition times throughout the day,” Coirier said. “We play matches that are two and a half hours long. Setup involves us finding where our allotted workspace is and then basically moving the entire robotics lab into that small space given to us on the tournament field.”

Participants have a good time during Regionals, Coirier said, seeing their hard work in action.

“I enjoy the competition,” Corier said. “I look forward to seeing other bots and how ours performs.”

The competition is available for the public to view in a live stream on the Illinois FIRST website.