SOLON — As the calendar turns into November, the longest high school season begins its journey. Solon Robotics has already spent countless hours in the preseason building their robots. The foundation for the more complex robots they will have at the end of the season in late spring. With competitions every two weeks, the robotics team has plenty of time to learn more and continuously upgrade their robots.

“It’s cool seeing them advance. A lot of them will come in and they don’t understand how to put a nut and a bolt together,” said Solon Robotics Head Coach Bill Mattaliano. Solon robotics hosted their first competition of the year Thursday, October 24, at the Solon Community Center. The 16-team scrimmage provided an opportunity for the kids to compete without having to care about the final score.

“This is a chance for them to find out what the game is actually about,” said Mattaliano, “How they’re going to interact with other teams, and how they’re going to interact with their own team.” The Solon Robotics team encompasses three teams: Organized Chaos, Deductive Thinkers, and Duckasauras. Every year the Game Design Committee publishes the new challenge for the season.

This year’s challenge involves moving samples into areas in the corners of the arena, placing those samples in baskets hung above those corners, parking the robot in a marked spot, and hanging a specimen on a structure in the center. Robotics brings an interesting challenge for the athletes. Unlike many other sports, there is no playbook or scheme given by the coaches. “We give them the rule book and say, here’s the rules. Interpret the rules, build the robot. You know, come up with ideas,” said Mattaliano. This freedom to make creative decisions allows for the players to learn more about the game, the process of experimenting, and building their visions in real life.

Solon Robotics will host a ten-team tournament Saturday, Nov. 2 at the Solon Community Center. Competition is scheduled to begin between 10:30- 11:00 a.m. with 15 competitions slated and an anticipated completion time of 1:30 p.m. There is no charge for admission and concessions will be available.