WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (WENY) -- Afterschool programs can help students to learn new skills, make new friends, and create some memories. Recently, a local robotics team has excelled in competition while also expanding their knowledge in computer science and engineering.

A group of students in Watkins Glen have used their passions for STEM and problem solving, to become successful in the world of competitive robotics. Their hard work so far, has rewarded them well.

The road to glory is often treacherous, uneven, and bumpy, but the Mechanical Meltdown Robotics Team has the right wheels to navigate to victory. Over the past seven competitive seasons, a group of students in the Finger Lakes have become a force in New York State robotics, improving their design along the way.

"It could go 45 degrees. It could go forwards or backwards, and we later improved the code in order to make sure that if you used the analog stick at a 30 degree angle, it would go at a 30 degree angle," said Judah Kircher when describing the robot's movement capabilities. Kircher is a junior in high school and is in his first year with the team.

Mechanical Meltdown consists of students from grades 7 to 12 that design, build, and program a robot to compete in a competitive format create by FIRST, the sport's governing body. This year's game, known as Center Stage, involves taking hexagonal game pieces, called pixels, and placing them in a backdrop to score points, along with hanging the robot in mid air, as well as launching paper airplanes into a goal.

"We mostly just get our basic mechanism up and then fine tune it to all the different spacings and orientations of the pixels or the hanging bars," said John Bruning, one of Mechanical Meltdown's builders.

The team is fresh off a victory at the Finger Lakes Qualifying Tournament, where they not only were overall winners, but also took home awards for professionalism, design and documentation, and developing community connections.

Lincoln Bruning, a programmer with the team, described the cooperative nature of FIRST despite the active competition, "If someone needs us, if someone breaks something, and they need a replacement, you can go help them. That has really been a big impact."

Mechanical Meltdown's success hasn't gone unnoticed either, as they are currently ranked second in their region, and third in New York State.

Mechanical Meltdown's season is set to ramp up in 2024 with tournaments taking place in Buffalo on January 27th and in Corning on February 11th. They'll have an opportunity to punch a ticket to the world championship at the regional tournament in Utica on March 3rd.