Robotics Takes on Worlds

The Parkview Baptist Varsity Robotics team, the BulahBots, had an amazing season this year. Thanks to our image team and sponsors we were able to compete in two Regionals and the FIRST Robotics Championship, Worlds. The team competed with their robot, Leviathan, in Laurel, Mississippi and Kenner, Louisiana. Leviathan can grab game pieces, cones and cubes, from elevated surfaces, travel the field and score them on the goals. The robot can also balance on the charge station, a platform with a seesaw like mechanic, with two other robots at the end of each match. The team’s first competition, Magnolia Regional, in Laurel, Mississippi, was a huge success for the team. The team not only won overall, but also won the Engineering Inspiration Award. This award is given to teams who are an inspiration in their community in the engineering field. BulahBots is one of the longest lasting teams in the Baton Rouge Area and are big about bringing back mentors and alumni to help with the team in future years. We also work hard to make sure the team runs like an engineering firm, ensuring each member knows how to navigate the business world when they leave the team. This regional also allowed the team to train their new Drive Captain, Ryan Wilks, and the rest of the Drive Team. The team’s second competition, Bayou Regional, allowed the team to further the robot’s ability. While in the first regional, the team could only drive, in this regional the team re-engineered a functioning arm, allowing the robot to compete offensively with other robots, rather than just playing defense. While this regional did not exactly go to plan, the team still learned a lot and had fun. One fun tradition Bayou Regional has is to do a Robot Parade on the first day of competition and a Senior Parade on the second day. Our senior and Image Team Captain, Maggie Liner, got to participate in this tradition. At this regional, the team also had some Middle School visitors. Mrs. Liner brought some eighth graders, interested in the program down to the competition. We had so much fun showing them around the competition and pits! Worlds, the team’s final competition, consisted of over 600 teams from 14 countries around the world. The team got to meet NASA engineers, as well as representatives from Apple, Disney, the CIA, and other major institutions. Colleges also came for an outreach day. These colleges consisted of schools from Maine to California. It was here where we competed with a division made from 78 different teams.  While we did not win this competition, it was a very big opportunity for those students interested in STEM and entering the business world. The BulahBots had a very eventful and fun season! 

BulahBots was established in 2011 by Shawn Liner, who is still our head coach. He believed that students should have hands on engineering and technology experience if they
had an interest in going to that kind of field. We received grants and our robotics journey began! Our team started off as Raptor Robotics, and was rebranded by one of our students as
“BulahBots”, and the name is still with us today! The first eight years of BulahBots build seasons
were spent in a classroom-sized space. Last year, Parkview Baptist Church generously decided
to let us use a small house across the street from school. The BotCave, as it is endearingly
called, provides space for our needs. We are able to have separate rooms for building, discussing, welding, our X-Carve, etc. BulahBots Robotics has created a legacy of high quality engineering, design, and teamwork over the past decade.