A small robot makes its way through a cleared space in the children’s section of the Jaffrey Public Library, filled with scattered blocks.

A mechanical arm comes down and pinchers close on a block, lifting it into the air as the robot makes its way back to a four-foot tall pole, attached with two baskets at varying heights. The arm deposits the block into a container on the robot’s back, which extends up and up, until it’s able to flip backwards, perfectly depositing the block into the highest basket.

Students from Jaffrey-Rindge’s robotics team built the robot, but they were not the ones driving it in the library on Tuesday. Instead, they put the controllers in the hands of other children, often young ones, who wanted to try their own hand.

The students built the robot for the FIRST Tech Challenge, a competition where schools compete against each other under a strict set of rules in order to complete challenges. The Jaffrey-Rindge team, Hot Wings, have completed this year’s season, where they qualified to compete at the state level. But part of the club is also educating others, said club member Autumn Stone, which was what the demonstration at the library was all about.

The team showcased this year’s robot, named “Loon” after New Hampshire’s iconic diving bird, in a nod to this year’s FIRST Tech challenge, which was named “Into the Deep” and meant to emulate some challenges for an underwater environment.

In addition to putting the blocks into baskets, teams could also earn points by hanging blocks from a pole, and having their robot hook itself to a pole and hang. They were also required to work with other teams from other schools in alliances, to test their ability to collaborate on the fly.

The club consists of students Jessica Yap, Autumn Stone, Dylan Charles, Dallas Charles, Barry Hilton and coach Laurel McKenzie, with Autumn, Dylan and Dallas acting as a three-person team to demonstrate the robot on Tuesday.

Autumn said one of the goals is just to introduce a younger generation to the club, and encourage them that robotics is for everyone.

“You should join if you really like to problem-solve and work as a team, but also like an adrenaline rush at a competition, or if you like to problem-solve or build things,” Autumn said.

She said prior knowledge isn’t needed in the club – only enthusiasm.

“Even if you don’t know anything about robotics, you will learn along the way,” Autumn said. “This team, and FIRST in general is meant to be a safe place, where there is no judgment. It’s open to everyone.”

Autumn herself is a first-year member of the team, having joined after taking a robotics class in school and getting interested. She said she plans to participate again next year, too, enjoying the challenge of having to build and program her way out of a problem.

“Even through the frustrations of, ‘Oh, my gosh, this isn’t working,’ it’s still very worth it in the end,” Autumn said.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.