West FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Qualifier

Approximately 275 middle and high school students from South Carolina are gearing up to compete in a qualifying tournament as part of FIRST® Tech Challenge. FIRST®, a robotics community that prepares young people for the future, is a global nonprofit with a mission to make STEM education more available and fun for students ages PreK-18. FIRST Tech Challenge is a widely accessible, robotics program for grades 7 through 12 that is one of several program offerings from FIRST. Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles, while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and working as a team. After spending several months designing, building, and programming, South Carolina FIRST Tech Challenge teams will come together from all over the western half of South Carolina to compete in a Qualifying Tournament that includes robot inspections, judged interviews and qualification and elimination matches that will culminate in an awards ceremony. The South Carolina FIRST Tech Challenge Wast Qualifying Tournament will take place on Saturday, February 3 at Fountain Inn High School with opening ceremonies at 10:30 am and the final robot matches and Awards Ceremony starting at approximately 4:00 pm. The top teams competing in the tournament will earn advancement to the FIRST Tech Challenge South Carolina State Championship at ReCreation Athletics in Columbia, March 1-2, 2024. From there, two teams will advance to the FIRST® Championship in April 2024. The 2023-2024 FIRST Tech Challenge season is called CENTERSTAGESM presented by RTX. The season theme is part of the FIRST in SHOWSM season presented by Qualcomm and shines a spotlight on the role STEM plays in the arts. The future is a place that FIRST students will help create and participation in FIRST programs gives students the STEM skills that will empower them to be creative, bring their ideas to life, and build a future world of endless possibilities. FIRST Tech Challenge teams build and program robots using an Android based control system by programming in Java or using other apps. They are exposed to 3-D modeling software to design their robot virtually before building them. For programming, students can use vison software, AI, and machine learning to help their robots navigate autonomously. Students who participate in FIRST are prepared for greater success in the classroom and workforce, and studies show that by their fourth year in college, 81% of FIRST alumni declare a major in STEM as compared to 64% of comparison group peers. Learn more about FIRST impact.. The South Carolina FIRST Tech Challenge West Qualifying Tournament is free and open to the public, and anyone interested in learning more, starting a team, volunteering, or mentoring with FIRST Tech Challenge is encouraged to attend. Food will be available for purchase on site, and the robot action at CENTERSTAGESM will entertain you. Come out and encourage these hard-working robotics students as they work to become a generation of global citizens prepared with the skills, confidence, and resilience to build a better world. Contact South Carolina FIRST Tech Program Delivery Partner, Linda Stewart ([email protected]), for more information.

Event Links

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2196780-0

Read More

View Less