The Engineering Club at Moorpark College is currently working on a robot for the upcoming Vex Games in April.

The robot is worked on by students of the Engineering Clubevery Friday here on campus. They spend almost four hours working to ensure that it can function, doing anything possible to make the robot the best that it can be for the competition.

“What it’s all about for me is doing something you’ve never done before,” said President of the Engineering Club Brice Chances. “I wish I had all this stuff at my house”

The robot competes in a game like most sports on television today. The object of the game is for the robot to pick up balls and score them in a certain zone to score points. The club members will do anything to make the robot be the best in terms of its design, functions, and capabilities.

They will even grab a finished product and break it down. If they feel the robot does not have enough support, they will go and adjust the support beams on it . If they feel they can make the robot faster when it comes to lifting objects, then the club members will go and work on the arms of the robot to make it better.

“I love the idea of building stuff,” said Michael Culver, the club’s secretary. “We had a lot of rebuilding last year, but I love the hands-on activity of actually making the product happen”

The way the club builds this robot is with their own team of members. Some club members have specific roles, but are more than happy to help out and work on different aspects of the robot with the other members.

Culver is a programmer for the robot; other students will work either on the wheels , the base, the arms, or the structure of the robot.

One of the major aspects of construction for the Engineering Clubis that they work on it as a team. They all have a team objective and goal when building their robot. The members feel this is a good skill for them in the future, depending on the career path that they choose to go on.

“It is really something that employers look for. It is something that stands out; something you can put on your resume,” said Culver. “It gives us experience with teamwork.”

The Engineering Club is a club that is used as a building block for each member’s future career, since most jobs will make them work as a team. Ultimately, the fact that they gain a team knowledge from projects like this is valuable.

The students’ love for all aspects of engineering is evident. From the way that the students interact with each other using little jokes related to the subject, to the debates they have when discussing the construction of the robot, it seems like a place where students can express their passions.

“I want people to feel like they had a good opportunity to work and share similar experiences,” said Vice President of the club Chris McLaughin. “It gives you an idea of how other people work, you can take away other peoples ideas.”

The Moorpark Engineering Club is going to the VEX Championships this April. The event is the currently the biggest competition for this robot. This robot will be the first of two that they will be building for these championship games.