In their first year of competition, Alexander High School’s robotics team is quickly advancing in 
Georgia’s robotics scene. The Cougar Clankers captured first place for overall performance at the BEST Georgia Robotics Competition in November, along with third place for Robot Performance.
The BEST Georgia competition offers students the opportunity to design, build, test, and compete through engineering practices. To earn the first place BEST Award, the Cougar Clankers completed rigorous requirements across multiple categories. As part of the competition, students created a 40-page Engineering Notebook outlining the design, build, and testing of their robot. For the marketing component, they developed a fictional company responsible for selling their robot,
The state competition win, held Nov. 8 at Kennesaw State University’s Marietta campus, earned the team the right to represent Georgia at the regional competition in Huntsville, Alabama. There, they finished in the top 20 teams in the region.
The Cougar Clankers’ journey began in Science Club, where student interest in robotics expanded into a student-led robotics program. The team name itself reflects both clever wordplay and the technical nature of their work, as “clanker” is a term used to refer to robots and androids.
The team’s eight members are Dheephaa Chandrasekaran, Yahmini Chandrasekaran, Eric Crisp, Isaiah Isaac, Vincent Patel, Kevin Rico, Denny Trejo and Frank Yost.
Tina Moran, the team’s sponsor, says watching the team build their knowledge of robotics and compete at the state and regional levels has been a rewarding experience. “They are all amazingly talented and incredibly intelligent young people," she said. "It has been a privilege to work with them through our program.”
Moran continued, adding that what has impressed her the most was seeing the students’ approach to challenges. “It was impressive to see how they would problem solve issues that arose, and how they never gave up, and just looked for a new solution,” she said. “Their positivity and excitement for the project was fantastic and infectious, no matter how tired they were. It is an honor to be a part of their journey.”