It was the Second Place Inspire Award that won them their ticket to the World Championships, which they won for a well-built robot, a great team dynamic, and notable community outreach.

Overall, Wrecker Robotics finished in eighth place before the final bracket. However, because the top four teams pick their alliance partners for the final bracket, one of the top four seeds picked Wrecker Robotics to compete with them in the final round.

“They knew we were a good team, and we just got unlucky,” said Alec Solder ’14, co-captain of Wrecker Robotics.

Before the final bracket were five qualifier rounds, of which Wrecker Robotics won three. Still, even with the moderate success, they did have to deal with a few pretty poor alliance partners.

“One robot we were partnered with didn’t move,” Solder said. “It only lifted at the end, and our robot is incapable of being lifted, so we had to try to win that game by ourselves.”

Regardless of good or bad alliances, Wreckers Robotics will continue to improve their robot in preparation for the competition in St. Louis—but they’re not only working on their robot. While teammate Max Liben ’14 would jump at the chance to “showcase [their] updates to the robot at Worlds,” the team first has to raise $10,000 to get themselves there.

Once their quota is reached, Solder will be accompanied to the World Championship by co-captain Troy Fantini ’14, as well as teammates Liben, Eric Pan ’14, Will Moeller ’14, and Ian Blanchardon ’15.

“Nothing could be better,” Solder said. “We’re looking forward to the World Championship in April.”