“A team from New Market Skills Center in Tumwater took sixth place and a team from Yelm High School finished eighth out of 24 teams during Sunday’s [Jan. 16] state robotics competition at Sammamish High School, according to Yelm teacher Doug Meyer.

Both teams are relatively new to the high-tech sport that involves building robots from scratch and programming them to perform tasks in obstacle courses.,” quoting The Olympian.

“Four Washington state robotics teams will be heading to St. Louis in late April to compete in the FIRST world championships.

In the end, four area teams came out on top Sunday at the FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship tournament. The top teams were the CyberKnights from Kings High School in Shoreline, Brit Bots of Sammamish, and Syzygy and SAAS, both of Seattle.

The teams will head to St. Louis in April to compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) world championships. FIRST was started in New Hampshire in 1989. One of the founders was Segway inventor Dean Kamen.

Twenty-four teams from around the Puget Sound participated…

Robots, about the size and weight of small microwave ovens, are required to complete a set of tasks, or in the very least, try to prevent their opponents from completing the tasks, to earn points. Teams also can win awards for other skills, such as creativity and cooperation,” quoting the Woodinville Patch.

Marius Wegmann of Yelm’s Bald Hills area and a team member of Tumwater’s New Market Skills Center Robotics told the Yelm Community Blog he learned alot being part of a team and got to expand his mind into areas that were previously unfamiliar. That was the gift of participating in this competition, he explained.

OUT OF 24 TEAMS, NEW MARKET SKILLS CENTER (WHICH HAS YELM AREA STUDENTS ENROLLED) & YELM HIGH SCHOOL DID VERY WELL.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THEM BOTH!