Things are tense in Middle School Room 221. Shipley’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Lego League Robotics Team, The GatorBots, is practicing for tomorrow’s competition. It’s Friday afternoon, and regular classes are over for the day.

Several team members are missing, and some show up late. Missions that students completed effortlessly just ten minutes ago are now failing. And with each test run the team completes, the fewer points they score. Tempers are flaring, and patience is running short.

Derrick McMichael, 7th Grade Math Teacher and GatorBot co-coach, calls the students together for a pep talk. “Things are going to go wrong. You have to accept the mistakes and move on to the next challenge. That’s the best thing you can do.” The most points the team has scored in today’s practice is 225. McMichael thinks they can get 280. “It’s totally attainable,” he urges the students. “We have to start working better together; you have to communicate.”

Teams collect points for each of 15 tasks their robots complete in two-and-a-half minutes. Though the GatorBots fared poorly in the first competition of the year, they made up for a lack of points with ideas of how to improve. In the eight weeks since then, the team has implemented creative solutions to save time on their missions. For instance, instead of programming the robot to cross the “playing field” to release a rail car full of coal down railroad tracks, it shoots out an arm that does the same thing—from inches away.

In this year’s challenge, students use robotics to complete a series of tasks—or missions—related to energy management and conservation. Placing a solar panel on a roof, moving and placing a hydro-dam across a river, and planting trees are among the missions. The students have spent two and sometimes three days a week since September programming their robot. It’s taken hours of trial and error to perfect each task. Still, things just aren’t going right during the GatorBots’ final practice before competition day.

“This is the toughest challenge I’ve ever seen,” says Gary White, Shipley’s Network Administrator and GatorBots co-coach. The students realize they won’t win tomorrow. Still, they’re eager to improve each run, and smooth out the kinks that are eating up precious seconds. Even if they don’t get 280 points tomorrow, they’ll try to beat their own best scores.

On competition day, the team faces fresh hurdles, but never gives up. The GatorBots come together to score an impressive 295 points, earning the GatorBots a place in the semi-final round for the top eight teams out of 34. “They pulled out their best,” says White. “I am so proud of them.”