More than 620 student teams — including four from Orange County — are set to play in an action-packed worldwide robotics championship held from April 19 to April 22 in Houston, Texas.
The annual Robotics Competition Championship is presented by the not-for-profit organization FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, and will host more than 35,000 ninth- through 12th-grade students from 43 countries. The FIRST Robotics event season begins with a five-weeklong challenge that aims to engage young people in science, technology, engineering and math to inspire the next generation of innovators and leaders.
With the help of professional mentors, students are tasked with designing, building and programming an industrial-sized robot with standard parts and testing their STEM skills on the playing field in matches against other high school competitors.
Teams from the Huntington Beach Union High School District and the Brea Olinda and Capistrano unified school districts will showcase their robots during their matches and compete for awards based on design quality, competitive play and sportsmanship.
The “Mubotics” team 7157 from Brea Olinda High School will be making its second straight appearance on the world stage with a robot named “Tai Lung” after winning the Aerospace Valley Regional competition and scoring a spot at the finals.
Eric Eichinger, team mentor and high school intern program manager at Boeing, said he could not be more proud of the students and that “they deserve all the accolades they are receiving.”
“They are taking pride in their efforts and excited to compete against other amazing teams,” Eichinger said. “The members have worked every day since Jan. 7 to build this robot with some putting in over 50 hours per week.”
Claiming their spots
Team 5199 from the Capistrano Unified School District took home first-place awards at the Los Angeles and Arizona West regional competitions with the help of team partners from neighboring high schools. The “Robot Dolphins from Outer Space” squad will start out the championships this week in the Galileo division with its new robot, “Trident.”
Marina High School’s team 4276, known as the “Surf City Vikings,” achieved its own first-place win at the Orange County Regional competition with a group of first- or second-year students in robotics.
Team 4276 coach and Marina AP physics teacher Thomas Zook said his students have learned that performing consistently and being good team players are what matter most in the competition.
“They are eager to have the chance to be on field with the best in the world, and to learn from those teams,” Zook said. “Win or lose, the students are going to learn a lot.”
Irvine students from community-based team 3476, or “Code Orange,” will also face off against their fellow Orange County competitors starting Wednesday, April 19.
The four-day championship will take place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Each of the competition’s robot matches will be streamed live on FIRSTtv.