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Three Nevada teams Compete at 2012 World Robotics Championship
Qualifying for a seed at the World Championship Robotics Championships is no easy feat. Teams compete in their local area to receive a coveted invitation to the international robotics champions at the World Festival, also known as the "Superbowl of Smarts".
Teams become ambassadors for their region and schools, and take on the additional challenge to earn their way to St. Louis, MO. Held at the Edward Jones Dome, in the biggest FIRST® Championship ever, 12,000 students from 32 countries competed in three robotics championships.
Among them were three Nevada teams, the High Rollers (FRC from Las Vegas, NV), the Brobots (FTC from Carson City, NV), and the Bricks on the Brain (FLL from Incline Village, NV). These high performing teams represented Nevada's best. NBA Hall of Famer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, reigning World Series Champion, John Jay, Pop Superstar, will.i.am, Celebrity Chef Homaro Cantu, famous Inventors, Dean Kamen and government official Congressman Chaka Fattah were among the distinguished guest who cheered all the teams on at the games and with their STEM career interests.
Coopetition, gracious prefessionalism, and alliance strategy are key at FIRST competitions. For the veteran team, High Rollers, these came naturally. But it was the robust design that proved to be the secret weapon in the "Rebound Rumble" game. Going into the championship, the undefeated Cimarron High Rollers FRC Team 987 ranked 4th among 400 teams with a robot named "Ace of Spades", a basketball shooting machine. They dominated in the Curie Division, then were selected onto the semi-final alliance team, and advanced on to the finalist alliance team in the determining final match.
A first year team, the Brobots, and Northern Nevada "Bowled Over" regional champions, learned about alliance strategy quickly. They collaborated with their alliance partners to score over 500 points in their first qualfication match. Competing in the Edison Division, the Brobots, FTC Team 5687, ranked among the top 10% of the teams after the qualification rounds. This was an impressive show for a rookie team, holding their own among 128 veteran champion teams from around the world.
The Bricks on the Brain, Team 7976, put Nevada and Lake Tahoe on the map with their remote control powered hard hats. They scored a high 183 points on the "Food Factor" game table and competed among the top 78 teams in the world (of 19,000). Congratulations to the all three Nevada teams for their stellar performance at World!