On February 19, the Heritage Technology Student Association went to the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center for the 2026 TSA State Conference. The all- freshman robotics team, consisting of Landon Smith ’29, Harmony Webb ’29, Luke Ervin ’29, and Hunter Nilsen ’29, placed third in the state.
Smith says, “We had to build a robot under a certain size: 16 by 16 by 16 that was able to lift and transport different objects such as wooden eggs, beanbags, slinkies, and things like that, and move them and maneuver them throughout a track and place them in specified containers.”
The team started by building a robot from a kit, then made changes to better fit the criteria. TSA club sponsor Michael Rudolph says, “They had one robot that they totally had to rebuild to create the one they ended up using, so they really understood the intricacies of how the robot worked.”
During the competition, Rudolph says, “they were really creative in solving the problems”. For example, “At one point [an object] fell flat and they couldn’t pick it up, so they decided to roll over it, which then tilted it so they could grab it with the claw,” he added. This move, and their other accomplishments, impressed the judges, earning them third place.