On April 26, 2026 through May 2, 2026, members of the Renton High School robotics team #24305, the Octonauts, attended the largest K-12 robotics event. They went to the FIRST world championship, the largest K-12 robotics event, with 1,054 other teams and 18,995 other students from 66 countries. How did this help the club? I interviewed the president of robotics for more information. On May 12, 2026, I stepped into the noisy, busy robotics classroom to interview the president of the Robotics Club, Madelyn “Maddy” King, about the competition and what it means for the future of Renton Robotics.
Why did you go on this trip?
“I went on the Houston trip because I’ve been in robotics for three years, and it really allowed me to see more of the world outside of what the school could offer.”
What did you do there?
“On the trip we visited a few places. We visited FTC (First Tech Challenge) Worlds. We also visited the Houston Johnson Space Center and the Houston Museum of Illusions.”
What did you learn from these experiences?
“At FTC, I think that we really learned what it meant to be a robotics team and what it means to be a part of FTC. At Worlds, it really showed us how robotics really brought everyone together, and it also showed us new sponsorship ideas, how to increase our club, and different projects we could do. It really was just a really good experience learning what we can do, and what we will do to do better in the future, and also to just outreach to other teams.”
How was the competition?
“It was amazing. You would walk into the FTC competition, and there would be giant balls flying all around from the different FRC arenas, and then you would go up multiple flights of stairs, and you would see the different FTC bots, and there were dozens upon dozens of FTC teams all playing at the same time, with their own live announcers and arenas, and a bunch of these small booths in the pits, it was life changing! It really changed how important I really knew robotics was.”
How will you utilize this knowledge in the future of the robotics club?
“How I will utilize this knowledge in the future is I will take what I saw the other teams were doing at FTC and try to apply it as much as I can to Renton Robotics. We already have a few teams that want to outreach with us, and talk to us, and do collaborations with us, and that’s something we just couldn’t’ve gotten without Worlds, because we wouldn’t be able to be in contact with those other teams. I think that we will utilize this knowledge by putting our outreach into effect and getting as many teams as possible to collaborate with.”
What was your favorite design?
“Less robot design, but more community design, I really like what Gearworks did. Granted, I am biased because Gearworks has my cousin in it. However, Gearworks has a preschool to high school robotic program, and that is something I really aspire for us to go throughout. I think growing up, I didn’t have a robotics pipeline or had a way to learn about robotics. What really inspired me about their team and that I really appreciated and found cool was that they knew from the get-go they wanted to teach as many people about robotics as possible, and that’s something I want [us] to do at Renton. Do you think this club has the potential to reach this level if they put their minds to it? Yes, absolutely! I think that Renton is filled with some of the smartest people I’ve ever met. We have so many dedicated members who do whatever it takes to be the best and do what it is!”
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
“Our Renton robotics team last year was [composed] of 3 people, and before that, it was 2 people. It was really hard getting through that, and having 60 signups during Redhawks day really changed everything. The new people were just excited about robotics, the outreach that we’ve gotten, it’s been life-changing, and I think we can bring a strong robotics team to renton, and we can teach the next generation of robotics students about robotics, and I think robotics has a strong future here at Renton.”
Thanks for talking to me.
“Yeah, of course!”
[End of interview]
In short, this event has inspired Maddy to increase the Robotics club’s scope to other schools, gave her inspiration and ideas for design, and gave the club new allies in the robotics community that may help them in the future.
Sources:
Yahoo! News – Robot rumble: Inside Houston’s international robotics competition
https://www.houstonfirst.com/news/first-will-host-major-robotics-competition-in-houston-through-2034
https://www.firstinspires.org/programs/first-championship
