A group of students in Pella has been hard at work sharpening their skills in the world of robotics.

For the first time, Pella’s First Tech Challenge (FTC) group Recharged Robotics is heading to state competition with two teams.

Jacob Vos with Recharged Robotics tells KNIA/KRLS News each group consists of different specialists that cover physical challenges with the robots designed and built by students, as well as other parts of the overall process.

“You need to have somebody on notebook, which is a very, very important part of the competition, because if you don’t have a notebook, you aren’t eligible for getting awards or going to state,” he says. “You have to have someone who specializes in writing and recording, you can have somebody who specializes in graphic design–that’s all a big part of advertising your team and everything.”

“But you have to have people that excel in building and the engineering side of things as well as driving.”

FTC aims to take many of the elements of physical sports and apply them to science, technology, engineering, and math. Team Captain Nick Dykema says a yearly challenge is presented to over three thousand teams around the world.

“This year, it was released way back in September and since then, we’ve taken these robots through the engineering and design process,” Dykema says.

Founded in 2013 with ten students on one team, Recharged Robotics has grown to serve sixteen middle school and high school students split between Recharged Green and Recharged Orange. Those students are mainly from the Pella homeschool community.

Several of the kids in Recharged Robotics plan to continue to work in engineering and programming after they graduate high school.

There are two other FTC teams in Marion County: Insurmountable Breakfast in Knoxville, and the Saint Bots in Melcher Dallas. Pella High School is also planning to start an FTC team next year.

Those interested in learning more or helping support the Recharged Robotics teams, can visit their Facebook page or contact them at pellarobotics@gmail.com.

Photos provided by Elyse Ogbourne.