This week, more than 12,000 students from around the globe are in St. Louis, Mo., to put their engineering skills to the test at the annual FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship, April 22-25. Although, with names like the Martians, Adambots, Killer Bees, Spartonics and CyberTooth, this year’s roster of teams sounds less like a gathering of future science and technology leaders and more like a casting call for the next War of the Worlds, Terminator or Transformers movies.
All kidding aside, the real-world experience that students gain through their participation in FIRST is invaluable to preparing students for the future, said John Nigro, Head of NAFTA Product Development – FCA US LLC. This year’s game, Recycle Rush challenges teams to build robots capable of stacking recycling totes, picking up litter and other recycling-themed tasks.
In fact, FCA US is so serious about advancing STEM education and careers that its charitable arm the FCA Foundation, increased its support for FIRST teams to more than $230,000 this year. As a result, 26 of the 42 teams we sponsored this year have qualified to vie for the championship. See the list of 26 qualifiers below.
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- During the 2015 FIRST Robotics Michigan State Championship, a member of the Killer Bees from Notre Dame Preparatory School, Auburn Hills, Mich., loads a container with a pool noodle.
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- In the pits: Members of the More Martians of Goodrich (Mich.) High School perform repairs on their robot.
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- The Adambots, a collaboration between Rochester Adams and Stoney Creek High Schools (Rochester Hills, Mich.), move their robot into scoring position during the 2015 FIRST Robotics Michigan State Championship.
“The FCA Foundation and FCA US are proud to play a role in encouraging students to explore the worlds of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education,” Jody Trapasso, senior vice president – External Affairs, FCA – North America and president of the FCA Foundation, said. “We applaud all of the teams that participated in this year’s program and wish those teams that advance to the championship the best of luck.”
2015 FIRST Championship Qualifiers
Arizona
Team 60, Bionic Bulldogs – Kingman High School
Indiana
Team 292, Panthertech – Western High School (Russiaville)
Team 3940, CyberTooth – Northwestern High School (Kokomo)
Michigan
Team 1, Juggernauts – Oakland Tech Northeast (Pontiac)
Team 27, Team RUSH – OSMTech Academy at Clarkston High School
Team 33, Killer Bees – Notre Dame Preparatory (Auburn Hills)
Team 51, Wings of Fire – Pontiac High School
Team 68, Truck Town Thunder – Brandon (Ortonville) and Holly High Schools
Teams 70 and 494, More Martians & Martians – Goodrich High School
Team 201, The FEDS – Rochester High School (Rochester Hills)
Team 245, Adambots – Rochester Adams and Stoney Creek High Schools (Rochester Hills)
Team 1322, Genesee Robotics Area Youth Team – GRAYT (Fenton)
Team 1502, Technical Difficulties – Chelsea High School
Team 1718, Fighting PI – Macomb Academy of Arts and Sciences (Armada)
Team 2137, The TORC – Oxford Community Schools (Oxford)
Team 2337, EngiNERDs – Grand Blanc High School
Team 2834, Bionic Black Hawks – Bloomfield Hills High School
Team 2960, Automation Nation – Birmingham Seaholm and Birmingham Groves High Schools Team
Team 3098, The Captains – Waterford Kettering High School
Team 3322, Eagle Imperium – Skyline High School (Ann Arbor)
Team 3536, Electro Eagles – Hartland High School
Team 3641, Flying Toasters – South Lyon Community Schools and South Lyon Robotics
Team 4961, Shock and Awe-sum – Almont High School
Team 5048, Spartronics – Imlay City High School
Team 5053, Lakers – Our Lady of the Lakes High School (Waterford)
“We are equally proud of our employees (more than 70) who generously share their time and talents as mentors and competition coordinators,” Trapasso added.
Since 1995, the FCA Foundation has awarded more than $2.3 million in grants to FIRST Robotics teams and programs in the United States and Canada.
