High schoolers from several parts of the world participated in the eighth annual Colorado Regional For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics contest. The event was held at Magness Arena. The students spent the last six weeks in developing their robots.
The FIRST Robotics Competition focuses on linking science education with the gung ho quality of a sport to support the participating students to take up jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
The event was held for two days and was open to the public to encourage the participants. The challenge given to the robots was to swiftly cross the arena built on the Magness Arena floor over the ice rink and suspend inflatable playing objects depicting FRC’s logo, the interlocked triangle, circle and square. The teams earned points by effectively controlling their robots remotely to achieve the given task.
CRyptonites robotics team from Cinco Ranch High School won the contest. BP America, ExxonMobil and JC Penney sponsored the team. Dean Kamen was the founder of the Colorado FIRST and the organization has progressively expanded over the last twenty years in the U.S and Canada with increasing global demand. Additionally, the participating students can apply for more than 888 scholarships worth $14.2 million. The FIRST championships will be organized in St. Louis between April 27 and 30.