WEARING Jedi knight robes made from bed sheets, members of the Oklahoma City-based Lightsabers robotics team were bustling Friday afternoon to do repairs and last-minute adjustments to their robot named Skywalker for its next match at the FIRST Robotics Competition Oklahoma Regional Championship.
Like most of the robots at the competition, Skywalker is a boxy-looking contraption with lots of wires that looks something akin to the inside of an industrial dishwasher.
Continuing Saturday at the Cox Convention Center, the FIRST Robotics event gathers 62 high school teams from Oklahoma and surrounding states to compete in a fast-paced competition where robots outfitted with arms and flipper-type mechanisms catch and throw balls through rings and over a large truss. Robotics teams form alliances and compete by trying to to score as many goals as possible during 150-second matches.
Lightsabers team captain Wesley Liao, a home-schooled senior, has used the robotics team as a way to nurture a growing love of engineering. The Lightsabers teams sponsors include Northrop Grumman and Boeing. Liao has met engineers from the companies to learn about internships and career opportunties.
Its about so much more than just robotics, Liao said.
Shawnee High School junior Matthew Selumber was at the robotics competition Friday to cheer on his school team, the Robopack.
Selumber helped raise the $1,000 the team needed to compete this year at the event. After being a part of the team for the past three years, he hopes this is the year the Robopack will make it to the national competition, held each year in St. Louis.
Theres a job for everyone, whether it be writing or raising money, Selumber said.
Wearing dayglow green, the Sprockets robotics team from the Gordon Cooper Technology Center Pre-Engineering Academy in Shawnee was one of the largest delegations at Fridays competition. Some of the team members had their hair dyed green to match their team shirts and green zebra-print details on their teams robot.
Sprockets team member Katie Pittman, a Shawnee junior, handles public speaking for the team and has gotten to meet with state lawmakers, including Gov. Mary Fallin, to talk about the importance of math and science education in Oklahoma schools.
Thursday, she and fellow team member Kristina Hibbard were passing out fliers and wearing matching green tiaras and tutus at the Sprockets booth at the Cox Center.
I tell them that these are the skills that are important because they can get us jobs and give us the skills for careers, Pittman said.
The FIRST Robotics Competition continues from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Cox Convention Center. The event is free and open to the public.
http://newsok.com/high-school-competition-pits-robot-against-robot-in-oklahoma/article/3948175
Like most of the robots at the competition, Skywalker is a boxy-looking contraption with lots of wires that looks something akin to the inside of an industrial dishwasher.
Continuing Saturday at the Cox Convention Center, the FIRST Robotics event gathers 62 high school teams from Oklahoma and surrounding states to compete in a fast-paced competition where robots outfitted with arms and flipper-type mechanisms catch and throw balls through rings and over a large truss. Robotics teams form alliances and compete by trying to to score as many goals as possible during 150-second matches.
Lightsabers team captain Wesley Liao, a home-schooled senior, has used the robotics team as a way to nurture a growing love of engineering. The Lightsabers teams sponsors include Northrop Grumman and Boeing. Liao has met engineers from the companies to learn about internships and career opportunties.
Its about so much more than just robotics, Liao said.
Shawnee High School junior Matthew Selumber was at the robotics competition Friday to cheer on his school team, the Robopack.
Selumber helped raise the $1,000 the team needed to compete this year at the event. After being a part of the team for the past three years, he hopes this is the year the Robopack will make it to the national competition, held each year in St. Louis.
Theres a job for everyone, whether it be writing or raising money, Selumber said.
Wearing dayglow green, the Sprockets robotics team from the Gordon Cooper Technology Center Pre-Engineering Academy in Shawnee was one of the largest delegations at Fridays competition. Some of the team members had their hair dyed green to match their team shirts and green zebra-print details on their teams robot.
Sprockets team member Katie Pittman, a Shawnee junior, handles public speaking for the team and has gotten to meet with state lawmakers, including Gov. Mary Fallin, to talk about the importance of math and science education in Oklahoma schools.
Thursday, she and fellow team member Kristina Hibbard were passing out fliers and wearing matching green tiaras and tutus at the Sprockets booth at the Cox Center.
I tell them that these are the skills that are important because they can get us jobs and give us the skills for careers, Pittman said.
The FIRST Robotics Competition continues from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Cox Convention Center. The event is free and open to the public.
http://newsok.com/high-school-competition-pits-robot-against-robot-in-oklahoma/article/3948175
