ESCANABA, Mich. -- Six Eastern Upper Peninsula high school teams went head-to-head with 32 other teams during the first of two FIRST Robotics district competitions that will determine who goes to state finals later in April.
To notch that honor, teams must place in the top 160 out of a field 424 Michigan teams. Two EUP teams reached that milestone and now must hang on through one more district competition.
This first FRC district event was hosted at Escanaba High School March 17-19.
Representing the EUP were the Instigators from Sault Ste. Marie; the Deceivers from Brimley High School; the Rudyard Nerf Herders; the Great Lakers from Mackinac Island; the Yooper Troupers from Cedarville; and the F.R.O.G.S. from Bay Mills Ojibwe Charter School.
Two teams – the Instigators and the F.R.O.G.S. – returned from Escanaba ranked 119 and 95, respectively, in the state. Teams have through the second week of April to maintain or better their ranking at a second district meet.
The FIRST Robotics program attracts more than 4,000 high school teams from throughout the country and world.
The FIRST acronym stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.”
Through competitive matches at district, state, national and international levels, FIRST uses robotics to encourage students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The effort is underwritten through school fundraisers, team registration, as well as corporate and private donations.
Every year teams brainstorm, design, and build a fully functional wheeled robot the size of a goat that can accomplish assigned tasks based on a theme unveiled earlier in the year.
This year’s theme, “Rapid React,” sees robots shooting “cargo” balls into “hub” areas for points and then climbing 5- to 8-foot-high uneven bars in each corner of a 27- by 54-foot playing field.
The theme was revealed in January, which gave teams approximately six weeks to build a robot to participate in the competitions.
Each match begins with a 15-second autonomous period in which robots operate independent of human control, with only pre-programmed guidance. During the remaining two minutes and 15 seconds of the match, called the “teleop” period, robots are controlled by student drivers from behind areas at each end of the field.
Each team run multiple matches of team-alliance play during a competition
The Instigators and F.R.O.G.S. head down to Midland March 24-26 for a continuation of district competition. Teams from Rudyard, Cedarville, Mackinac Island, and Brimley High School get two weeks off until April 7-9, when a district event is hosted in Kingsford, Mich. With luck, it’s on to state finals (April 13-16) and then world championships April 20-23 in Houston.
Watch competitions live on streaming video via relevant links at thebluealliance.com.
