Central Robotics Team Takes 13th Out Of 100 Teams at World Championships

The Hazelwood West High School and Hazelwood Central High School robotics teams competed at the FIRST Robotics Competition, FRC, World Championship competition held April 25 – 27 at the Edward Jones Dome.

The RoboHawks, Hazelwood Central High, finished with a ranking of 13 out of the 100 teams in their division.

Katie Allen, RoboHawks sponsor, said the team enjoyed the competition.

“The RoboHawks really had a wonderful time at the competition,” said Allen. “This was by far our best finish yet at world championships. We were not picked to go onto the final rounds, so that remains a goal for next year.”

The Shrapnel Sergeants, Hazelwood West High, finished with a ranking of 52 out of the 100 teams in their division. This was the team’s first appearance at the world championship.

Cory Cook, Shrapnel Sergeants sponsor, said the team and their robot performed well.

“Out robot was robust, and the team was in high spirits and eager to perform,” said Cook. “I’m proud of the team. Their finish was very commendable for their first time”

“The students also had a chance to enjoy the international flavor of the event. We had off field interactions with teams from Brazil, Israel and Canada,” said Cook.

More than 400 teams participated in the competition. The teams were selected from the 2,546 FRC teams in 17 countries that participated in the 77 regional and district competitions.

FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a national program founded in 1992 in New Hampshire. FRC is designed for head-to-head competition using a sport themed activity.

Teams of students are responsible for designing, building and programming robots to compete in an alliance against other teams. Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop a strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles.

Through FRC, students get to “apply real-world math and science concepts” and “develop problem-solving, organizational and team-building skills.”

This year the FRC game is called Ultimate Ascent. It is played by two competing alliances on a flat, 27 by 54 foot field. Each alliance consists of three robots. The robots will compete to get as many discs into their goals as they can during a two minute and fifteen second match.

The match ends with robots attempting to climb pyramids located near the middle of the field. Each robot earns points based on how high it climbs the pyramid. The robots cannot be more than 112 inches in perimeter, no more than 84 inches in height and cannot weigh more than 120 pounds.

The new Hazelwood East High School robotics team, the Tech Titans, also competed at the St. Louis regional event at Chaifetz Arena.

 

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