High school robotics teams from around the Midwest will duke it out in the Seven Rivers Regional FIRST Robotics Competition at the La Crosse Center March 31 and April 1.
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WXOW)-- High school robotics teams from around the Midwest will duke it out in the Seven Rivers Regional FIRST Robotics Competition at the La Crosse Center March 31 and April 1.
Jason Jones is co-chair of the event. He joined Daybreak to give a preview of what to expect from this growing organization.
FIRST Wisconsin is a 501(c)(3) Non profit organization and is part of the larger national FIRST organization. FIRST stands for inspiration and recognition of science and technology. The goal is to give students grades k-12 opportunities to develop skills in STEM, business, teamwork, and real world problem solving.
There are 54 different high school teams competing this year in La Crosse that are coming from across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and even two groups coming each from North Dakota and Missouri. This is one of two competitions being held in Wisconsin this year, the other being held the week before in Milwaukee.
Teams from the Coulee Region include:
- Sir Lancer Bots - La Crescent, MN
- Ramhawks - Winona, MN
- Πρbοtics (Pi Robotics) - La Crosse, WI
- Igknightion - Onalaska, WI
- Phoenix Robotics - La Crosse, WI
- Sparta Robotans - Sparta, WI
- Thorobotics - Holmen, WI
- Robotic Warriors - Caledonia, MN
- Thorbots - Westby, WI
- Gearbox Heroes - West Salem, WI
- TC Robotics - Arcadia, WI
"Each year they change up what the actual skills are going to be."
Jones says the robots this year will be picking up traffic cones and putting those onto pillars as well as picking up foam blocks and putting them in a designated area. Then they have to work with their other coalition teams, they group together three different teams for an activity, where they will try and get their robot on a balance beam and try to balance for more points.
"They change up things every year for the schools so they can't just say 'hey! We had a good robot last year so we're going to be good this year.' Everybody gets a fair shot at things. It's some pretty intense things these kids do." Jones adds that they have six weeks to make the robots.
There will be competitions all day Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1. The top three teams will advance to the National competition which is held in Houston, Texas on April 19-22.
Right now, they are looking for more volunteers to run the event.
"The whole thing is volunteer-based. Without volunteers like myself and our committee we wouldn't be able to do this."
Jones says there are many positions available and they have the biggest need for position labelled "crowd control" but he says it's really more just directing people to the places they need to go and can access. He says volunteers get a t-shirt and lunch.
Go to FIRSTInspiresWI.org/volunteer to learn more about volunteering or to sign up.
