St. Thomas More robotics team headed to world championship

St. Thomas More High School is sending a team of students to Texas to compete in the FIRST World Robotics Championship.

MILWAUKEE - St. Thomas More High School is sending a team of students to Texas to compete in the FIRST World Robotics Championship.

"Our robot is a lot faster than a lot of the robots out there," said Sam Moore. "I’m really proud of that."

The team at St. Thomas More High School made the robot from scratch.

"As the driver, you’re locked in on what your robot is doing," said Moore.

Moore and Alex Fleming use video game controllers to drive and maneuver it.

"The purpose of the robot is to, essentially, pick up one of these and put them in one of these scoring locations," said Moore.

A claw clinched cones and basically sucked in purple cubes.

"The strategy gets really deep, especially in a game like this where it’s, essentially, 9x3 Tic-Tac-Toe.

"The actual field we compete on is the size of a basketball court," said Moore.

They said the robots' actual speed is much faster.

"This year, we definitely are a powerhouse team," said John Niemiec, lead mentor.

More robotics recently won two major regional competitions. April 19-22, they will be in Houston for the world championship.

"I’m just hoping we represent more robotics and Wisconsin as best we can and hopefully, get the win," said Fleming.

"This year has been beyond my wildest expectations," said Moore.

When the team is not designing and competing, students learn how to write grants and papers to win other awards.