Carson High team wins FIRST Tech Challenge Championship

Seven teams came the evening before from Utah, Las Vegas, San Diego and Folsom, California to get a jump start on inspections for the 1st ever Northern Nevada regional FIRST Tech Challenge Championship in Carson City.

They also volunteered to set up, then took advantage of the two waves of company tours conducted by CGI, Inc., the main event sponsor. On competition day, teams were eagerly waiting before 7 AM to enter Carson High School. Master of Ceremonies, Mr. C (AKA Brett Caron) guided the enthusiastic game announcers and supportive crowd through a program that began with recognition partners, Carson High School and CGI, Inc.

The teams put on game faces, sported Fadora hats, and wore Vendetta masks, black capes and even pink tutu's. The team names reflect the team's levity and creativity. Shouts of "Viva Papayaland" gave the audience a chuckle. While the costumes were lively and fun, there were serious robots being carried to the field, a reflection of hundreds of hours of designing, researching and building. It was awesome to see each team reveal its secret weapon- grippers, scissor lifts, clamps, pushers and extenders.

Four semifinalists captain teams emerged victorious from six rounds of qualification matches: The Brobots (Carson City), Robomagic (Carson City), Coral Academy Falcons(Reno), and G-Bots (Las Vegas). They were backed by strategically chosen partner teams. When the semi-finals concluded, Word of Life Christian Academy and Carson High School were the strongest remaining captain teams. The partner teams demonstrated just why they were chosen. Both alliances were so evenly matched that it was nail biting until the scores were displayed showing a mere single point difference between the victor and the opponent. The rookie Brobots team even surprised themselves.

When they formed in November 2011, the Brobots literally had no experience in building robots, and had no understanding of the rules and the intensity of the FIRST Tech Challenge. They rose to the occasion, and designed and tweaked their robot. In the end, they captured the Northern Nevada Championship title. The matches concluded with enormous celebration.

Yet, the teams needed to quell their excitement to hear the results of the technical judging portion of the competition. Team 4963, NOVA won the overall Inspire Award and was also Brobot's winning alliance partner. The Brobots and the NOVA will advance to the next level of competition, the World Festival at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri April 25-28, 2012.

These are the results of the overall championship.

Motivate Award: Team 5326, VC Vendetta from Virginia City, NV, Finalists:
Team 3509, PHOENXTRIX, Team 4967, RoboMagic
Connect Award: Team 4238, RCGFoPL (Robo Chicken Gator Flys of Papayaland)
from El Dorado Hills, CA, Finalists: Team 5326, VC Vendetta, Team 4963, NOVA
Rockwell Collins Innovate Award: Team 5687, Brobots from Carson City, NV
Finalists: Team 3050, G-Bots,Team 4253, Legonauts
PTC Design Award: Team 4253, Legonauts from Folsom, CA Finalists: Team
4238, RCGFoPL (Robo Chicken Gator Flys of Papayaland),Team 4963, NOVA
Think Award: Team 3509, PHOENXTRIX from Folsom, CA Finalists: Team 3483,
Winds of Thor, Team 4963, NOVA
Inspire Award: Team 4963, NOVA from Folsom, CA Finalists: 2nd Place: Team
4238, RCGFoPL (Robo Chicken Gator Flys of Papayaland), 3rd Place: Team 3509,
PHOENXTRIX
Judge's "Rookie of the Year" Award: Team 4967, RoboMagic from Carson City,
NV
Finalist Alliance: Alliance 2: Team 3050 , G-Bots (Captain), Team 4238,
RCGFoPL (Robo Chicken Gator Flys of Papayaland)
Winning Alliance: Alliance 1: Team 5687, Brobots from Carson City, NV, Team
4963, NOVA, from Folsom, CA

Special thanks to the 77 amazing volunteers, the generous event sponsors:
CGI, Inc., GE Energy, Les Schwab, Carson High School, DaVinci Designs, Silver
State High School, Barker Business Solutions, and the exhibitors, Computer
Corps, LEGO Education, Dave Parker, CGI, Inc., FIRST, Space Science for
Schools, Society of Women Engineers, GE, Girl Scouts.

Dee Frewert, M. Ed., is Education and Development Director, Board Vice Chair of Space Science for Schools.