Chelsea Bossert/Daily Mining Gazette Calumet CopperBots teammates, Cole Miller, left, and Sterling Fryer, right, demonstrate their robot, “Snake,” which competed at the FIRSTrobotics World Championship earlier in May.

CALUMET — The Calumet CopperBots competed in the FIRSTrobotics World Championship earlier this month in Houston. It was the second straight year the CLK Schools’ robotics team competed on the global stage.

The team left with a 4-6 record and, unfortunately, did not make the cut for playoffs. CLK Schools Mathematics Instructor and CopperBots Coach, Todd Waurio, said the experience competing against the best teams in the world is more important than the official results.

“When we’re lucky enough to be able to qualify, we know that the real value of this trip is just to have that experience against the rest of the teams that we look up to,” he said. “So, it’s really neat to be side by side with these teams and see that we can play on the same field and be competitive with them.”

CopperBots was able to fly down to Houston this year due to the quick fundraising efforts of the community. It raised around the target amount of $15,000 needed to allow the team to be at its best. In 2025, CopperBots competed in the same world championship, but drove down to its destination.

Team member Evelyn Robb said last year’s trip was taxing but feels the team was more relaxed heading into the competition this time.

“Sitting in a car for like, 30, 40 hours was kind of rough,” she said. “But then, this year taking the plane we got delaying a couple times and so we didn’t get to Houston ’til like 4 [a.m.] But overall, the trip was a lot quicker.”

This is Robb’s second year traveling with the team to Houston. She said the goal was to compete at her best level, learn and have fun.

“I mean going to the competition, we’re up against, 599 other teams from around the world. And so, we’re not really expecting to be the best in the world, but we we’re there to compete and have fun,” she said. “Being able to go there and know we can compete with these teams — it was just really awesome.”

Team member Cole Miller said this year’s robot was an improvement on last year’s creation. “The robot felt good, like just better this year,” he said. “I mean it was a lot more well maintained. It performed better than last year in my eyes.”

Miller said it was difficult competing with teams with heavy funding and viewed Calumet as an underdog.

“We did as best we can and I’m not-so surprised when you see the other robots that are there,” he said. “But, you’re able to go there and still look at the other robots, learn, see what they do, implement that for next time and get better next year.”

Team member and programmer, Sterling Fryer, said the team was able to have new experiences this year due to the time saved by taking a flight down to Houston.

“This year we put a little bit more padding and instead of driving down, we flew, which allowed us to go to the Johnson Space Center,” he said. “Probably one of the best places if you want to find people who are really nerdy about technology.”

Fryer said he is hopeful to get new, younger recruits to fill out needed team roles like media management, electrical and programming.

Waurio said CopperBots plans to have a strong, senior-led team next year.

“We’re really excited because they’re all just hitting their peak,” he said. “So, we’re just hoping that before we lose them, that they can train the next group in because that’s really what it is. The students train and are the ones that are important for the program.”