Olympia High School Earns Berth at FTC Super Regionals

Last Edited on September 25, 2017 by Richard

Olympia High School team qualifies for Robotics Super Regionals

On Feb. 4, 2017 at the Showare Center in Kent, The Washington State FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) Robotics Championship was held.   The Olympia School District had three teams qualify for this State competition:  Capital High Schools “The Count Down,” and Olympia’s High School’s, Oly Cow and the Bear Necessities. All three teams were very competed fiercely at State

After a day of intense robot game play and focused presentations, Olympia High School’s Oly Cow won the Motivate award and earned their way to the “Super” Regional Robotics Competition.  13 states from the western US, will be competing at Super Regionals and Oly Cow will one of the teams representing Washington State.  Earning the Motivate award is not easy, it is challenging and requires a lot of community outreach and service. Here are some of the criteria a team must demonstrate in order to win the Motivate award:

  • Demonstrate respect and Gracious Professionalism toward everyone they encounter at an FTC event.   
  • Demonstrate the successful recruitment of new teams, mentors, coaches and volunteers who are not otherwise active within the STEM community.  
  • Articulate the individual contributions of each team member, and how these attribute to the overall success of the Team.
  • All team members participate in their presentation, and actively engage with the judges.  

This year’s FTC robotics challenge, “Velocity Vortex,” has robots scooping up and shooting particles (whiffle balls) into a vortex in the center of the field and for the last thirty seconds of each match, robots can pick up the cap balls which are two feet in diameter, Between shooting particles and lifting cap balls, there is a lot of action going on in these matches.

Teams of students have designed, built  and programed a robot to complete as many of these tasks as possible in 2 ½ minutes.  But that’s not all!   Students will also give a ten minute presentation about their robot, and team activities and turn in an engineering journal that includes their robot evolution, CAD designs, outreach and more.

Check out this video to learn more about “Velocity Vortex!”  

The FIRST Super-Regional Championship will to be held March, 10-12, 2017, at the Tacoma Convention Center (1500 Broadway, 98402).