GULF SHORES — Gulf Shores High School's new robotics team officially announced its launch to the school on Jan. 10 and now has two months to build, code and prepare for its first competition.

The goal? Piece together a working robot that can gather dodgeballs and shoot them into a giant trashcan target.

The team, HyperWave, received their instructions for the game, or challenge, within the competition, last weekend and have been steadily working on their robot since.

Gulf Shores High School (GSHS) computer science teacher Jamie McClung is leading the crew of students as they each help in different roles, from graphic design and outreach to engineering and coding.

He said just about everyone fits in with the robotics team.

"We've got a state-level swimmer; we've got computer science kids; we've got band kids; we've got a theater kid," McClung said. "I mean, this lets everybody come together because it's not a specialized...you don't just have one talent."

One talent the students share is becoming "heroes to all" at elementary and middle school robotics competitions. This weekend, some students are volunteering at a competition in Florida.

McClung said he expects GSHS to be hosting their own robotics competitions by the summer.

While competitions can be intimidating for those curious about joining the team, Jade Petitjean, team member and outreach manager for HyperWave, has a few ideas for technology-integrated events that can help other students ease into the program.

"The thing about clubs in high school is not a lot of people know about them, or they get scared," said Petitjean, a sophomore. "I remember my freshman year, and it was scary, but that's why I want to go talk to the middle schoolers and try to introduce them to our program. I want to teach them things about our robots and get them comfortable."

She said she would like to see GSHS host an apprenticeship program for the middle school students, host regular interest meetings and attend tech fairs or have the team regularly volunteer at different places.

The unofficial mascot for the team will also be used for encouraging more student participation.

Petitjean often walks Phin the Robot Dog — which earned its name well before the school's new comfort dog, an actual dog, bearing the same name came to campus — around the halls, and it receives much interest from students, even those not in Robotics Club.

While Petitjean brainstormed outreach activities during the Jan. 10 kickoff meeting, another student on the team, senior Ty Pitman, was finetuning a Java code for a base robot the team has already built.

The little metal square rolling around the school library is to eventually become the team's competing robot.

Right now, it moves via Xbox controller, but students like Pitman are working to get the robot moving autonomously, taking commands and cues from different QR-code-like images.

Several functions needed to participate in the game are already being worked on by the HyperWave team.

Pitman said he hopes to understand the Java coding language more as he is already somewhat familiar with it from his time in McClung's AP computer science applied class.

Other students at the kickoff event, including Cody Caldwell, Lenny Lemus and Kelwyn Pingrey, worked with McClung on different specifics for what is needed to build and put together the robot.

Several of the students plan to apply skills they've learned in Robotics Club to future schooling, as some are looking to study cybersecurity in college, and others are considering engineering.

One component of the new high school building set to open this fall that the HyperWave team will likely be excited about is the Dream Lab space with high ceilings perfect for assignments on drones or flying robotics, offering students a large new playground to let their technological creativity run wild.