Greater KC Regional FIRST Robotics Competition sends six local teams to Houston

Six local high school robotics teams earned slots at the international FIRST Championships, April 17-20 in Houston, during the Greater Kansas City Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition on March 22-23 at Rockhurst High School. This year’s competition featured 36 teams.

Attended by fans, families, educators and industry leaders, the competition also awarded several teams with honors for design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and partnerships between schools, businesses and communities.

With the hope of winning one of the several coveted awards, high school students worked with professional mentors to design and build a robot over a six-week period using a kit of parts and a standard set of rules.

The local advancing teams include teams in the Regional Winning Alliance: Team 5801-CTC Inspire from Independence, Team 1730-Team Driven from Lee’s Summit High School, Team 2357-System Meltdown from Peculiar, Mo., and Team 1785-Blue Springs Robocats.

Team 1986-Team Titanium from Lee’s Summit West High School and Team 1806-S.W.A.T. from Smithville High School each advanced to Worlds with wild card slots.

Awards

Regional Chairman’s Award** (highest award of the competition): 2723 Team Rocket, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Engineering Inspiration Award** (second highest award of competition) Team 1730, Lee’s Summit High School, Lee’s Summit, Mo.

Regional Winning Alliance:

Team 5801-CTC Inspire, Career & Technical Center at Ft. Osage, Independence, Mo.

Team 1730-Team Driven, Lee’s Summit High School

Team 2357-System Meltdown, Raymore-Peculiar High School, Peculiar, Mo.

Team 1785-Blue Springs Robocats, Blue Springs and Blue Springs South High Schools, Blue Springs, Mo.

Regional Finalist Alliance:

  • Team 1986-Team Titanium, Lee’s Summit West High School, Lee’s Summit, Mo.
  • Team 3284-Camdenton LASER, Camdenton High School, Camdenton, Mo.
  • Team 1806-S.W.A.T., Smithville High School, Smithville, Mo.

Team Spirit Award: Team 1723-The FBI, Independence, Mo.

Industrial Design Award: Team 1986-Team Titanium, Lee’s Summit, Mo.

Gracious Professionalism Award: Team 2357-System Meltdown, Peculiar, Mo.

Entrepreneurship Award: Team 5809-The Jesubots, Rockhurst High School, Kansas City, Mo.

Quality Award: Team 1764-Liberty Robotics, Liberty, Mo.

Creativity Award: Team 1108-Panther Robotics, Paola, Kan.

Excellence in Engineering Award: Team 3284-Camdenton LASER, Camdenton, Mo.

Imagery Award: Team 2352-Metal Mayhem, Ada, Okla.

Safety Award: Team 3284-Camdenton LASER, Camdenton, Mo.

Innovation in Control Award: Team 2410-Blue Valley CAPS Metal Mustang Robotics, Overland Park, Kan.

Judges’ Award: Team 1802-Team Stealth, Piper High School, Kansas City, Kan.

FIRST Dean’s Finalist Awards: Rebecca Porter of Team 5268, The BioMech Falcons, Olathe South High School, and Katherine Ameku of Team 1723-The FBI, Independence, Mo.

Also receiving recognition were Woodie Flowers award winner Sherry Comer of Camdenton LASER and Volunteer Partner of the Year Missouri S&T University.

See more photos from this competition by Charles Maples.