International high school students met at Magness Arena last Friday and Saturday to showcase their hard work in the eighth annual Colorado Regional FIRST Robotics Competition after six weeks of designing and building original robots.
The “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST)” Competition (FRC), intends to combine the need for science education, often lacking in K-12, with the competitive nature of a sport to encourage the 45 participating teams to potentially pursue careers in ‘STEM’ subjects: science, technology, engineering and math.
“This is a free chance to see high schoolers compete in a fun and academic environment,” said Cecilie Nygaard, a DU sophomore who attended the event.
Over the course of the two-day event, students engaged in challenges and sought out solutions. Between each trial, music blared throughout the stadium and hundreds of participants, parents, mentors and spectators danced and cheered.
The teams constructed robots designed to quickly cross the playing space created on half of the floor of Magness Arena above the ice rink. The teams earned points by guiding their remote-controlled robots to hang inflatable shapes.
“The inter-tube-like playing pieces represent FRC’s logo, the interlocked triangle, circle and square, designed for FIRST 20 years ago,” said participant Kitty Dyer, a high school senior from Fort Collins.
The winning team, the CRyptonites, newcomers to the FRC, came to Denver from Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, Texas. Their sponsors included BP America, ExxonMobil and JC Penney.
“We perfected our teamwork and came out victorious,” said Caroline Guardia, one of 48 active CRyptonites team members. “I think a lot of the students on our team want to study science, math and technology in colleges.”
Colorado FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway Human Transporter and over the last two decades has steadily grown in size and scope, rapidly expanding in the U.S. and Canada with accelerating international demand.
In addition, this year’s participants had the ability to apply for over 888 individual scholarship opportunities, a combined valued of over $14.2 million.
“The ultimate aim of the program is to make students enthusiastic about science,” Dyer said.
The FIRST championships will be held April 27-30 in St. Louis.
