Southwest High School robotics team headed to FIRST Championship
Mpls robotics team heading to FIRST championship
Minneapolis students are hard at work over spring break after qualifying for the robotics FIRST Championship in Houston, Texas. FOX 9's Leon Purvis has the full story.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - While most students enjoy time away from the classroom during spring break, others in Minneapolis are hard at work. The Southwest High School robotics team is heading to the FIRST Championship later this month.
Heading to FIRST Robotics Championship
What we know:
Southwest High School’s robotics team, Ultraviolet, just qualified for the FIRST Championship in Houston, Texas. The team will compete against 450 of the best teams around the world.
"Going to the world championship. And you get to, like, take pictures of the robot. Pictures of the robots, talk to these teams, who are doing way better than you," said high school senior Mason Vogt.
Qualifying for Texas
How they did it:
They qualified at a robotics competition in Grand Forks, North Dakota. They only had eight weeks to program and design the robots to do the challenges in the competition. The tasks have to be done smoothly, and they’re made from the ground up.
"Almost all of these parts are custom, so we'll machine pretty much everything ourselves," said Vogt.
Building the robot
Starting from scratch:
They had to design, cut, assemble and program the robot. This weekend, Team Ultraviolet will test its skills at the University of Minnesota Robotics Competition.
"We have to be able to pick up these tubes of PVC pipe called coral. And so that'll come into our robot around here, and then filter into our arm," said Vogt.
That’s just one of the many challenges Team Ultraviolet’s robot has to be able to do at the U of M.
Freshman driver
Robotics driver:
Every team has one person driving the robot. Team Ultraviolet’s driver is a freshman who can’t even drive a car yet.
"I've been able to drive this for a while. The practice before this is just like practicing driving a car," said freshman Jonah Karch.
The Road to Houston
When is it?:
The FIRST Championship is in Houston from April 16-19, so if something happens to the robot this weekend at the U of M, the team has to repair it before heading to Texas.
If you’d like to support Team Ultraviolet, click here.