A formidable group of travellers embark on a trip of epic portions to attend the FIRST Robotics Competition Buckeye Regional at the Wolstein Center on the Cleveland State University campus. FIRST is an acronym that means “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”. Upon arrival at the Wolstein Center we picked up a program and checked out displays on the concourse that gave us an overview of what FIRST is all about. We then headed down to the arena and watched a couple matches between the Red and Blue Alliances made up of three robot teams each. This year's game was called, Destination: Deep Space…

In DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE, Presented By The Boeing Company, we join two competing ALLIANCES collecting samples on Planet Primus. Unpredictable terrain and weather patterns make remote ROBOT operation essential to their mission on the planet. With only 2:30 until liftoff, the ALLIANCES must gather as many CARGO pods as possible and prepare their spaceships before the next SANDSTORM arrives.

After a few matches most of the group took a tour of the pits where teams work on their robots. This gave us a behind the scenes look of how the robots are put together and maintained between matches. A popular activity was collecting team buttons to see who could get the most. When we finished touring the pits we went back to the stands and watched more matches. You could definitely tell some robots had a better design and which teams knew how to get the most out of their robots. The robot enthusiasts were Anthony, Dominic, Joe, Lucas, Sam, Ayden, Andrew, Mr. Botzman, Ms. Hunter, and Mr. Makowski.

FIRST Robotics Competition Photo Album