On Nov. 8, 2025, NDB’s robotics team, the TigerBots, attended their first competition of the year. The team did their best, but came in last. Luckily, this does not mean they are out of the running for the year. Robotics Co-Presidents Maggie Blanchard and Anna Fox share: “No one really wins, because it’s cumulative through the four competitions throughout the year … the only one that really matters is the last one.”
The TigerBots designed a robot they named O-wheelia. The competition starts with an inspection of all robots, including O-wheelia. The aspects that get checked are if the right materials are used and if the robot is in the correct measurements. Then, there are multiple rounds of competition. Everyone competes in five rounds, so in total there are about 15 rounds. Twelve teams are competing against each other, and every round, two teams share an alliance.
O-wheelia is operated by the drivers, Lizzie Scott, Alexis Anderson and Maggie Blanchard. In total, there are 16 members in the robotics team, with eight members on build.
A special challenge in this year’s game is a bucket resembling a basketball hoop, which the robots shoot balls into. At the end of the bucket, there is a slide, and at the bottom of the slide, there is a lever that stops the ball from falling out. If the robot hits the lever, it slides open and the ball rolls out.
Like in any sport, there are fouls in robotics. During one of their matches, the NDB TigerBots were fouled when another team accidentally knocked a few balls out of the scoring area.
Something the captains wanted to highlight was the teamwork of their group, especially when they are trying to find solutions between matches or coding during lunch. “It kind of is a way to practice the teamwork that we work to achieve,” Fox said.
Blanchard’s favorite part of the competition was the autonomous period at the beginning of each match, where the robot can not be manually controlled by the drivers. The teams simply put in code and watch their robot drive.
The TigerBots will have several more opportunities to compete. The team captains and members are excited about the competitions ahead.
