Following its win at the Pacific Northwest District Championship on April 7th, Tahoma Robotics Club’s battle-scarred robot is in the shop preparing for its biggest challenge still to come: the FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston, TX. “Bear Metal” team members are working through spring break at Tahoma Senior High School to bring their robot once more into top condition. Then the team will fly to Houston for the ultimate tournament in mid-April.
In the district championship at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, the team scored among the top three teams during qualification rounds, giving them the right to choose their partners for the final rounds. With “Team Mean Machine” from Camas, and “The Dragons” from St. George’s School in Spokane, Bear Metal’s alliance worked their way through the quarter-finals, losing the first match but taking the last two. It was the same story in the semi-finals. Then, in the final rounds, the alliance blasted through the first match, and scored in the nail-biting last seconds of the second match, earning their invitation to the World Championship.
The FIRST Robotics Championship will take place in Houston from April 19th through the 22nd. It will feature 8 competition fields operating simultaneously and hosting 400 teams from around the world. All FIRST programs, from FIRST Jr. Lego League for elementary school students to FIRST Robotics Challenge for high school students, will be represented at the tournament.
About Robotics Club:
Tahoma Robotics Club, team Bear Metal, is located in Maple Valley, Washington, and is made up of students from both the Senior and Junior High School of Tahoma School District #409. The team participates each year in the FIRST Robotics Competition, and has often received recognition for its innovative concepts and robot designs. FIRST is an acronym of “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.
For more information about our club and FIRST, visit TahomaRobotics.org and www.FirstInspires.org on the web.
