Sonoran Science Academy Tucsonβs high school robotics team crushed it last weekend, taking top honors at a world competition in Houston.
CRUSH 1011, short for Creating Robots Under Severe Heat, and its partner teams from California and Washington, were named the Winning Alliance at the 2017 FIRST Robotics Championship.
βWeβre the first team from Arizona to ever win at the championship,β said Kinney Anderson, a volunteer mentor for the team. βThat, to me, is the really big thing.β
The FIRST β For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology β organization encourages young people to get engaged in science and technology, and puts on competitions involving science, technology, engineering and math, including robotics.
Throughout the year, nearly 3,400 teams from around the world competing in the FIRST robotics contest received a mission to build a robot and a list of functions the robot must be able to perform.
With Perry, the robot, CRUSH won a regional competition in Denver and advanced to the next round in Houston, which was one of two FIRST world competitions. The other world competition takes place this week in St. Louis.
Before the Houston competition took place, students and mentors of CRUSH told the Star they hoped to win their division.
Now, they will face off against the winning alliance of the St. Louis contest at the end of July in New Hampshire, where FIRST is based, and compete for a final title.
Anderson said she is not sure how the battle will play out, but hopes it is an encouraging and inspiring experience for the students of CRUSH.
βIβm just hoping for CRUSH students to have the opportunity to make some good friends and good connections with those other teams,β she said.
Palo Verde High Schoolβs team, Optimal Robotics, also competed in Houston, though they did not place.
