After placing second in regionals, Fuquay Varina High School’s robotics team, SLICE, has made it to the World Championship in Houston, Texas. The team left on April 17 and will compete April 18-19.

To earn their placement in the national tournament, the team was ranked based on the amount of points they earned throughout the regional competition against 40 other teams. They were tested based on the robot’s weight and its capabilities.

During the playoff matches, the FVHS team started strong, winning all of their games leading up to the finals. Despite a loss in the final match, their robot still completed all of its tasks and will be used in the World Championship. Thousands of teams competed in regionals, but only 600 made it to this level. SLICE is one of these 600 teams. It is also one of only a few teams from North Carolina that are competing. 

“Participating in the World Championship is a rare experience,” said SLICE advisor and computer science teacher Norm Dion.

The robotics team has been building their robot, Clementune, to use in the competition since January 2024. Clementune is designed to complete a series of tasks against the other robots in the competition. These tasks change each year. Some of the tasks the robot must complete include picking up discs and shooting them into a hole in the wall and climbing on a chain to do a pullup.

“We have been working very hard on improving the code for aiming with sensors to allow the robot to shoot correctly,” said sophomore Brady Starler, a member of SLICE robotics team.

SLICE has 60 members, 40 of which participate actively every week. Each day SLICE works together to improve their coding and robotic skills so they can compete and do well in the competitions they participate in. For the World Championship, SLICE sent 21 delegates to compete.

Through the process of making their robot, SLICE has had challenges to overcome, including issues like teamwork and compatibility.

“One thing we’ve really struggled with is team spirit and keeping our team really feeling like one. With football, they’ve got all of the drills they play together. You have a sort of ‘family’ there. With robotics, we’ve had difficulty trying to get people to feel that same way,” said senior Nathan Starler.

Despite these challenges, SLICE has continued to strive for everyone to be their best self as a family and team in robotics. Through the challenges they have overcome, they have created stronger bonds among the team.

“When we work together we keep each other in the loop so not one person has control over the robot. Everyone is involved,” said Brady Starler.

The competition starts on Thursday, April 17. SLICE will play 10 qualifying matches over the next two days. The top eight teams will draft alliance partners for the playoffs, which will happen on Saturday.

To follow SLICE in their push for the championship, you can keep up with the standings here, and you can watch the competition live here. 

SLICE would like to thank two of their local sponsors, Caterpillar and John Deere, for helping to make this team and successful season possible.