And he’s a robot.

The Dunkirk Marauders Robotics FTC No. 13945 team demonstrated “Dillon,” the robot that is used in the competition, to the school board. The robot has a difficult programming task, but to put in layman’s terms, the robot is operable via a controller and is used to grab glyphs, or foam-like boxes, to the glyph box or scoring zone. Yes, there is more, but this is the simplest part of the scoring.

Three speakers led the discussion on the team. Alex Cooley, Michael Mitchell and Tyler Jacques elaborated on the team’s extensive effort to compete against other robotic teams. On Jan. 7, the Dunkirk team traveled to Corning to compete in the Excelsior NY Region FIRST Tech Challenge Corning Qualifying Tournament. The Marauders placed 13 out of the 22 total teams in its first year.

“We did have a mishaps with the motor, but all-in-all, we came in 13th place out of 22. For first timers, that’s pretty good,” Jacques said.

OBSERVER Photo by Andrew David Kuczkowski Members of the Dunkirk Marauders Robotics team explain the mechanics of the robot, Dillon. Tyler Jacques, gesturing on the far side of the photo, described the robot and its components.

The speakers entailed how they built “Dillon,” which took them about five weeks. The work is more than just a few metal rods as it includes motors, a metal frame, working claws and more.

“Basically, the layout is pretty simple. We have a frame, claw and shoestring,” Jacques said. “It was kind of a last-minute idea there. … Duct tape comes in handy when you do stuff like this.”

The components work together to be able to pinch the glyphs and move them to the scoring area. However, to make a robot do what you say, there is coding involved. That’s where Mitchell and his team came in.

“I did some decently simple coding, in my (mind),” Mitchell said. “I had a lot of good friends that helped me do this and I’m usually the one who does more video things, but these guys helped me get around to do the more physical (things). We used this controller here (as he picked it up). We made sure the control sticks allowed it to move.”

The team has a Facebook page, which updates people on what the team is doing and its future events. The name of the page is called “FTC 13945 Marauder Robotics” and the handle is @marauderrobotics.

The team roster includes: Mitchell, Joe Gifford, Carlos Rosario, Bella Donisi, Steven Zentz, Alex Cooley, Daniel Muldowney, Jacques, Jimmy Beehler and Jay Gifford. The managers are the team include: team coordinator, Amanda Cooley; team coach, Roger Cooley Jr.; team administrator, Mrs. Marybeth Muldowney; team coach/advisor Cynthia McMillen; and mentor Abbey Zentz.

Twitter: @ByKuczkowski