Wave Robotics has made significant impacts through the years by making engineering more accessible to the community. This year, the team returned to compete at the 2026 FIRST World Championship in Houston, Texas with 600 other robotics teams from around the world.

After winning the FIRST Impact Award at State Championships, Wave Robotics qualified for the competition, making their third consecutive year journey to the World competition. During Worlds, West won the Creativity Award in the Archimedes Division as their robot, Ouroboros, used a triple coaxial turret design and six cameras that were linked with a custom AI model to shoot game pieces, all of which was designed and developed by Wave students.

The team faced many challenges while putting together a highly competitive robot in a short period of time, according to junior Max Thiemke.

“Looking back it was definitely an exciting experience. We were one of eight other teams that won the Creativity Award, out of around 600 other teams,” he said. “I spent two weeks quickly trying to redesign our intake to increase its rigidity, which paid off splendidly.”

With teamwork and countless hours of meetings, sophomore Millie Kasubaski believes the hard work paid off in the long run. A keen attention to detail led to winning an award.

“The Creativity Award is such a meaningful award for everyone who worked on robot design and the construction of the robot. Our robot, Ouroborus, was very particularly designed, and I feel this award was definitely a big kudos to the effort that much of manufacturing and software have put in these past few weeks of the season,” they said, “Through the award, I think it showcases the time and effort we have put in as a team.”

Despite the tireless work it takes, Thiemke loves that Robotics provides a chance to step away from the pressures of everyday life and hang out with friends.

“Wave gives me an escape; instead of worrying about school assignments and work, I get to spend hours after school learning engineering principles and ideas while making wonderful connections with my peers,” he said, “It helped us modify our robot with what time we had left to make us an ideal teammate.”

Asides from students, mentors, and parents, people in the community had also helped support Wave Robotics with funding and hotel lodging. Lead Technical Mentor at Wave, Jeff Cysiewski, and Student Advisor of Wave, Sara Dobish, both contributed significantly in order to provide an adequate itinerary for the students in such a short amount of time.

“From a mentor leadership side, I would say planning this trip to Champs in just a few days was definitely stressful and challenging. Sara and I both worked very hard to secure hotel rooms, transportation to Champs, transportation while at Champs, meals, and registration fees,” Cysiewski said. “Sara handled setting up all of our meals, while I worked on transportation and securing the registration fees.”

During the competition, students wake up early and come back late nearly every day. Junior Farhana Amin recognizes the amount of work and time everyone had put in prepping for such a big event.

“Everything had to fit into a singular toolbox and reorganize everything in order to make it work. The robot had to transport the robot in a crate instead of taking it down in our trailer,” she said. “We only had one week for marketing, meaning students had to take stuff home to work on, or take it with them to work on in the hotel room at 11pm.”

Although tiring, Kasubaski enjoys the special memories made during competitions. Robotics gives students both new connections and adventures.

“I remember one night, after the first day of the Championship, me and my other roommates stayed up almost two hours after room checks, just making buttons in order to have them for the next day,” they said. “[Wave is] a place where I can hang out with friends, and experience opportunities I would never have been able to without taking the opportunity to join.”

Sophomore Barakat Akinyele finds the most special part about Robotics is not just the connections made within her own team, but those made with people from all over the world.

“I enjoyed interacting with numerous other kids of different ages, sharing ideas and learning about the daily lives of those living in different states like California to those from different countries like Mexico and China,” she said. “It was a lot of fun and heartwarming knowing that we may speak different languages, deal with different problems, and live in different climates, but we are able to bond over a similar aspect in our life, a similar activity.”

by Yui Watanabe

Published May 26, 2026

Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue VIII

Wave Robotics takes Creativity Award during third consecutive trip to World Competition