One of the three Mount Si Robotics teams, the Si-borgs, have qualified for the state competition of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge, a statewide robotics program and tournament series.
In the FIRST Tech Challenge, student teams build robots to compete in an objective-based game, which tests the robots’ abilities in automated and manually controlled challenges.
The Si-borgs qualified in their third and final regular-season challenge, Jan. 14, at Everett High School. Kyle Warren, computer science and robotics teacher at Mount Si High School, said students were judged on their robots’ performances and on their teamwork.
“Not only are the two teams putting robots on the field, but there is also a judged component where the teams give their story about robotics, their team, activities and journey through the season,” he said. “They try to come up with unique idea and approach, what are they doing to spread the information and ideals of FIRST to the community, how are they interacting with local businesses with fundraising and sponsorships.”
The teams also turn in an engineering notebook to the judges. The notebook is a written record of all the team’s activity in design, brainstorming, testing, business plans, though the season.
Based on their presentation to the judges and an evaluation of their engineering notebook, the Si-borgs received the Connect Award, which recognizes the team that best connects their local science, technology, engineering and math community.
The team now has less than a week of preparation time before the state competition, which will be Feb. 6 at Showare Center in Kent.
Warren said the state competition brings together all the teams in a reset of point-based rankings.
“One thing different about state is the team points they accumulate are all wiped clean,” he said. “It puts all of the contenders on a level playing field. For teams that got in based on judged awards, they won’t enter the contest at a disadvantage compared to the teams that qualified based on their match.”
Warren said that all the qualified teams have the opportunity to revise their designs, change them as much or as little as they want, or even come up with something entirely new.
