- June 14, 2025
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When building something as complicated as a robot, trial and error can be a way of life.
Trial and error in all things technical, all things mechanical and, even, some things personal.
Meet Team Charlie, a group of seventh graders from Carlos E. Haile Middle School, just back from the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas. Team Charlie is made up of Sofia Laubacker, Amelia Cendere, Connor Willats, Joshua Parker, and Cooper Gallego who were coached by Anthony Vasile.
Dressed in Charlie Brown pajama pants, Team Charlie finished 26th in robot skills in a group of 420 teams and third in the Teamwork Challenge. Mona Jain Middle School was also there, finishing 83rd in skills and second in the Teamwork Challenge. McNeal Elementary was 100th of 400 in skills and 53rd in teamwork.
Bradenton’s Sofia Laubacker, 12, was the Team Charlie's lead and helped code the robot. This is not her first time at VEX Worlds, as she and Willats were both part of the team “The Donut Squad” in fifth grade that also made it to Worlds.
“We would code it fully, take it home and work on it over the weekends,” said Laubacker. “Then Cooper and Connor, they would have the bright idea to change the robot so then we would have to re-code it again for another eight hours.”
“It is true,” said Gallegos. “As a builder, I just wanted to always make the robot better somehow.”
Gallegos said he has always enjoyed building and creating things and started out with Lego before joining VEX three years ago.
“I would build models and work on car engines and stuff like that,” Gallegos said. “I was like this would be a cool opportunity for me to do something I enjoy.”
Gallegos said their original robot was pretty flimsy, with parts always bending “This [their current robot] it's a lot more sturdy,” said Gallegos.
Parker said he learned to scout other teams' designs to make his own better. Trial and error, remember?
“We learned how to maximize our driving score and find the true potential of our robot,” said Willats.
As a team, Charlie has had ups and downs but found ways to work together. There were five members of the team so they would often vote on decisions but there were times Cendere would opt not to vote, but did learn how to compromise better.
“I'm sorry, I didn't want to take sides,” said Cendere.
Laubacker said there were times where she had to walk away and take a breather.
“None of us really took it to heart,” Laubacker said. “We're all very good friends in our life and I like that we were able to push through that.”
This school year, the team was able to meet as a class every day. Last year it was only after school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Laubacker said it enabled them to have a lot more time to think of ideas and successfully implement them. The time between practices last year allowed for more time to forget ideas but there were five extra hours during the week that she appreciated having.
Gallegos said building their robot took a lot of trial and error (there it is again) and a lot of time sketching in the engineering notebook.
“I was really happy with the design and how good we got this robot to be by the end of the season,” said Gallegos.
“What was good is that one of our best friends’ team, The Mechanical Bulls, weren't in our division,” said Gallegos of a team from Mona Jain Middle. “So we got third and they got second.”
Mona Jain Middle School “Mechanical Bulls” made up of Jaxon Carver, Carl Santos and Charles Santos were in a different division than Charlie, but also placed highly. They went to their division’s finals and won 2nd place in teamwork for the opportunity division and placed 83rd in skills out of over 400 teams.
Both Charlie and the Mechanical Bulls have YouTube channels where they post and get advice from other teams. Gallegos said Carl commented on one of their videos recommending a smaller sprocket be replaced with a bigger one.
“I was like, hey guys, remember Carls’ comment,” said Gallegos. “We changed that, and it was a big game changer. It helped so much.”
McNeal Elementary team “Blue Lightning” was made up of Samantha Casnueva, Trenton Horne, Matthew Jackson, Parker Poplaski. They placed 53rd out of 84 teams in teamwork in the arts division. They placed 100th in skills out of 400 teams.
“It was a wonderful experience for our team. They kept their season average score in the team matches and did well in Skills,” said Vyacheslav Kolomiychenko, who coached “Blue Lightning” from McNeal Elementary. “They enjoyed interacting with other teams, sharing trinkets, and exploring the venue.”
