By MADELINE REIDA

Staff writer

The Vex Robotics tournament Saturday at Hillsboro wrapped up early after one team dropped out and surprisingly few technical difficulties were encountered.

“Sometimes, we’re here until 7 at night,” robotics coach Creigh Bell said.

The competition started at 7:30 a.m., but time still felt short for some of Hillsboro’s robotics teams. Team 4101H, “The Olympians,” had to scrap its original design and add a gearbox within an hour to meet a qualification.

“It’s not ideal, but that’s life,” The Olympians’ Lyle Fickes said.

The 24 participants included six teams from Hillsboro; four teams from Centre and Wichita; three teams from Hesston, Topeka, and McPherson; and two teams from Maize.

Most teams started building their robots at the beginning of the semester, but some started working on them when the school year began. They were judged on engineering as well as performance in Vex Robotics’ current competition game, Tipping Point.

Team 4101J, “Off Balance,” partnered with Maize Career Academy team 67101V, “Vaquita,” to take tournament champion. Off Balance also took the design award.

4101A, “Operation Cleanup,” took judge’s award with Colton Jost and Cash Walles.