Photo provided.
Northwood’s Robotics Team traveled to its first competition of the 2026 season recently, marking the group’s first official event of the year, the Hudson Valley Regional. The competition brought together teams from across the region and gave Northwood students a chance to test their robot after weeks of preparation.
In the lead up to the event, the team had been putting in extra time outside of class to get ready. “Our robot has made a lot of progress. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had some really productive students coming in… and we’ve been really putting in the hours,” said Orrin Tracy-Deuss ’27. He added that the team focused on “getting the robot systems working, getting the code perfected, and getting our drivers used to the controls.”
Photo by Jacob Slagel ’26.
Along with building and coding, preparation also involved organizing equipment and planning for anything that could go wrong. “We got to get all of our parts packed… so that if something breaks on the robot while we’re in the competition, we have the equipment to fix it in between matches,” Tracy-Deuss said. He described the process as “a big game of Tetris.”
Going into the competition, there was a mix of excitement and pressure. “I’m very excited for it… there’s a lot of stress and a lot of things to get done,” he said. Still, he emphasized the team’s mindset, “We’re just going out there to have a good time… and hopefully do a good job.”
Looking ahead, the Robotics Team is already preparing for its next competition after April break. With their first event completed, the team now has a better sense of what to expect and what to improve on moving forward.
