Katy, TX News – Student Robotics Team to Compete in World Championships
Katy, TX News (March 13, 2015) – Cinco Ranch High School’s robotics Team 624 (CRyptonite) punched their ticket to the FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC®) World Championship by winning the 2015 Dallas FRC Regional Tournament. The tournament marked the first week of the seven-week world-wide FRC qualifying tournament season, which culminates in the World Championship at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
After 10 matches in the qualifying rounds and making their way through five quarter and semi final matches, CRyptonite, along with their Alliance partners, Team 118 (Robonauts) from League City and Team 2613 (Protobot) from Van Horn, won a thrilling best-of-three final, 2-1 against Alliance opponents Team 148 (Robowranglers) from Greenville, Team 987 (High Rollers) from Las Vegas, Nevada and Team 3802 (Robopop) from Carrollton.
“Winning the first regional tournament we competed in this season was fantastic,” said CRyptonite Student President and Cinco Ranch senior, Dylan Bray. “We struggled in the qualifying matches with a new robot, new game and new Drive Team, but, with the help of our Alliance partners, we really pulled it together in the elimination rounds. Qualifying for the World Championship the first week of the season takes a lot of the pressure off.”
CRyptonite also won the tournament’s Imagery Award, which celebrates attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance.
The organizers of the Dallas Regional had a surprise in store for everyone on the final day of the event – a visit from inventor, entrepreneur and FIRST founder, Dean Kamen, along with Dallas Cowboys safeties, Barry Church and J.J. Wilcox. They were joined by four Cowboys cheerleaders and the team mascot, Rowdy.
Regarding this year’s challenge and how FIRST robotics helps prepare students for a future in science and technology, Kamen told the audience, “We wanted to really push the concept of team work.” He said that technologic breakthroughs, no matter in what industry, will require teamwork across engineering disciplines, because “all the easy stuff’s been done…(so) “team work is absolutely critical.” Addressing the students, Kamen said, “All the teams, all the players are winners because of the effort you’ve put in and what you’ve learned.”
