ROCHESTER — Since freshmen, Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School juniors Calvin Payne, Kai Uhlin and Douglas Barrows have been proud members of “Team Rocket,” the school’s competitive robotics team. 

And since day one, the boys have dreamed of going to States — plans for which were foiled last year when their software malfunctioned on the last day of the tournament. Having to forfeit and head home may have been discouraging, but the three were ready to go at it again when Vex Robotics announced this year’s game, titled “High Stakes.”

Dan Brush, engineering teacher and robotics coach, estimates the boys have spent 50 to 60 hours at the school building the two robots that are competing this year. 

On Saturday, Feb. 9, the buzz of automation filled Old Colony’s cafeteria as student-built robots worked quickly to collect red and blue brightly colored rings — their human counterparts beaming with excitement. It was Old Colony’s third time hosting in the Vex Robotics Competition and six schools from across the state were in attendance. 

Being Team Rocket’s third competition of the year, Payne, Uhlin and Barrows said they felt they have been performing better this year than they have before, even taking fourth place in the individual standings during Saturday’s games against 22 teams. 

Of the games they’ve competed in over the years, Team Rocket said “High Stakes” is their least favorite as there is “a lot more guarding and camping in corners,” Barrows explained. 

Payne said “High Stakes” relies on a lot of strategy and communication as each team is paired with another to form an alliance. 

The boys agreed working with the other teams has been fun, but noted the games feel “less eventful.” 

They also highlighted that malfunctions during these games are almost always not recoverable. 

At one point this year, the team lost air pressure and couldn’t grab any of the mobile goals in the field in order to place rings.

“We got lucky our opponent wasn’t very good, so we were able to still stack just two rings and it was enough — the five points got us the win,” said Uhlin.

However, Payne said, “I think we’re definitely getting better because we’re prepare.”

Though the robots were slightly more difficult to build this year, needing lots of fine tuning and tweaking, the team said they are more familiar with the whole competitive process. Barrows adding, “We know better how these robots behave.”

“This is the best we’ve done all year," Brush said, adding it’s been “a lot of late nights after school — we’ll stay here until six or seven. I’ll order pizza, we’ll have dinner and we will just keep working right through.”

He said the challenge the team has been facing is finding a space to practice as there is nowhere for them to set up their field full-time. 

“It’s like playing basketball, but we only have a hoop in the driveway — we don’t have a full basketball court,” Brush added.

But the team continues to work hard with what they have, and a network of visiting alumni happy to help when necessary. 

“The kids appreciate it,” Brush said. “We have a real family.”