2 Ventura County student robotics teams bring home world championships
Two Ventura County youth robotics teams won world championships on Saturday, their custom-designed robots emerging from fields of thousands around the globe.
HighTide Robotics, an independent team from Ventura, was part of the four-team alliance that topped the high school division FIRST Robotics Competition in Houston. The team qualified with three regional contest wins.
"It was really insane," said Irene Kim, an El Camino High School senior and one of HighTide's lead programmers. "Incredible to see all of our hard work pay off."
Last year: Ventura-area high schoolers craft champion robots with dream machinery
This year's competition season for the robotics prize pitted more than 3,300 high school teams in a race to collect a series of cones and cubes using custom-built, 125-pound robots.
GatorBytes, based at Newbury Park Adventist Academy, led a three-team alliance to victory in the combined middle school and high school division FIRST Tech Challenge, weeks after taking regional and state titles.
The tech challenge, with more than 7,000 teams taking part this year, saw groups design smaller, kit-based robots to stack small cones throughout a grid of posts.
The final event in Houston, which hosted both the robotics and tech contests, saw 974 teams from 59 countries take part as the top qualifiers from more than 10,000 globally. The nonprofit FIRST, based in New Hampshire, has aimed to develop science and technology leaders since 1989 through the team-based challenges.
Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County student robotics teams win world championships
