Oak Ridge High robotics team to compete in Knoxville before world championship

Oak Ridge High School’s robotics team, the Secret City Wildbots, will compete locally at the Smoky Mountains Regional FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium this Friday and Saturday before heading to the World Championship Competition in Houston April 18.

The Wildbots punched their ticket to the World Championship earlier this month after earning the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Arkansas FRC Regional, according to an Oak Ridge Schools news release. It's an award sponsored by NASA that celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community.

Triceptasauraus, the Wildbot’s competition robot this year, weighs in at 118 pounds and is entirely designed, manufactured and programmed by students on the team. The team finished eighth overall in Arkansas.

“We are a very young team,” Mark Buckner, Wildbot lead mentor and teacher, stated in the release. “We had six strong experienced senior leaders graduate last year, so this is a rebuilding year for us, but I couldn’t be more proud of this team and their hard work and performance so far this year.”

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages four to 18 (preK-12).

To learn more about the Secret City Wildbots, visit its website or attend the competition.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge robotics team to compete locally before world championship