(April 5, 2006) — From March 23-25, Clark’s Robotics team, the Circuit Breakers, spent three days at The Great Western Forum in Inglewood relentlessly scouting, planning and maneuvering their way into robot glory. Showing their team pride with hair dye, flags and posters and even mascots, over 50 teams from schools across Southern California attended the event, marking the end of the Robotics season. During the competition, Clark’s beloved robot, Man Jan, competed in an arena with up to three robots from other schools. Six teams of schools were gathered into groups of two alliances with three teams and six robots each; each alliance was assigned either blue or red, and each school played 9-10 games each. The goal was to make as many shots as possible in the three baskets of the opposing team in the allotted two minute, 10 second time limit. The team experienced unanticipated problems, however. The absence of a driver due to illness, and a broken camera were among some of these problems, but the Circuit Breakers ultimately placed 22nd out of 50. Strategy was also a crucial part of the game, and scouters spent much of the day analyzing the opposition by documenting the moves, shots and strategies of opposing teams and sending this information to the captain. Club advisor Charles DeVore and his group of engineering enthusiasts had previously attended a competition in Phoenix. “In Arizona, we weren’t very organized and we had a lot of issues to work out. But after that, we defi nitely learned from our mistakes,” said sophomore Angie Wang. “The amount we improved was incredible and I had a great time. This competition just had an overall much more fun atmosphere.” The team is considering attending another competition in San Diego this May and DeVore said that those interested in being a part of Robotics next season should develop their engineering talents by joining Engineering Club and participating in the bridge building competition.