Both Goodrich and Brandon robotics teams are on their way to World Championship in St. Louis following a successful weekend.
From April 8-11, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Team 68, Truck Town Thunder along with Goodrich Team 494 and Team 70 traveled to Deltaplex Arena in Grand Rapids, to compete with more than 100 teams at the FIRST In Michigan State Championship.
‘This year the teams have done very well never finishing below the quarterfinalist level at any of the competitions they attended,? said Patrick Major, team coach.
Goodrich FIRST Robotic teams finished as quarter-finalist at the Michigan State Championship. Goodrich Team 494 was awarded the Quality Award presented by Motorola. Goodrich Team 70 won the Excellence in Engineering Award presented by Delphi, a Judges Award, and the Creativity Award presented by Xerox. The results of the competition qualified the team for the world championships.
Similarly, Brandon-Holly Truck Town Thunder will join the Martians in St. Louis where they will compete against 600 teams from across the world.
‘Truck Town truly raised the bar this year and finished 11th out of the 102 teams that participated,? said Andrew Spiece, of Truck Town Thunder. ‘Due to the effort shown by team members, the tenacity, helpful endeavors demonstrated by the team’s pit crew and mentors along with the helpful partnerships throughout the years. Despite being eliminated, making it to the quarterfinals at the state competition was definitely an astounding feat for the team.?
Truck Town Thunder, along with Team 503, Frog Force, and Team 2137, TORC received the Regional Chairman’s Award.
‘Due to the team’s continuous promotion of the ideals of FIRST and the efficiency of their robot, T3 has qualified for the FIRST World Championship,? added Spiece.
The competition in Grand Rapids also included Governor Rick Snyder.
Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST Robotics, attended the state championship competition to give Michigan Governor Rick Snyder the ‘Make it Loud Award.? The award was first given to singer Will.i.am and named in his honor for helping FIRST promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The governor has long been a big supporter of FIRST Robotics, mentioning FIRST Robotics in his State of the State address this year, having a FIRST Robotics Team and their robot accompany him on the Mackinac Bridge walk.
Governor Snyder has set a goal and committed funding to have a FIRST robotics team in every high school in the state. It was also announced that the FIRST Robotics World Championship will be in Detroit for the 2018 season.