March 2018 — Five local high school robotics teams earned slots at the international FIRST Championships, April 18-21 in Houston, during the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition new Heartland Regional on March 10-11 at the Metropolitan Community College-Business & Technology Campus.

Attended by fans, families, educators and industry leaders, the competition also awarded several teams with honors for design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and partnerships between schools, businesses and communities. With the hope of winning one of the several coveted awards, high school students worked with professional mentors to design and build a robot over a six-week period using a kit of parts and a standard set of rules.

The five local advancing teams include Ravonics Revolution from Olathe Northwest High School, Team Driven from Lee’s Summit High School, S.W.A.T. from Smithville High School, Cougar Robotics from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School and Jaguar Robotics from Mill Valley High School.

Regional Chairman’s Award** (highest award of the competition): 1710 Ravonics Revolution, Olathe Northwest High School

Engineering Inspiration Award** (second highest award of competition) 1730 Team Driven, Lee’s Summit High School

Regional Winning Alliance:

• Team 4522 Smith-Cotton High School, Sedalia, Mo.
• Team 1710 Olathe Northwest High School, Olathe, Kan.
• Team 1982 Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, Mission, Kan.

Regional Finalist Alliance:

• Team 1730, Lee’s Summit High School, Lee’s Summit, Mo.
• Team 1806, Smithville High School, Smithville, Mo.
• Team 1810 Mill Valley High School, DeSoto, Kan.

Team Spirit Award: Team 2410, Blue Valley CAPS, Overland Park, Kan.

Industrial Design Award: Team 1810, Mill Valley High School

Gracious Professionalism Award: Team 1108, Paola, Kan.

Entrepreneurship Award: Team 4786, Nicolet, Wis.

Quality Award: Team 1723, Independence School District, Independence, Mo.

Creativity Award: Team 5918, Cristo Rey High School, Kansas City, Mo.

Excellence in Engineering Award: Team 1939, The Barstow School, Kansas City, Mo.

Highest Rookie Seed Award: Team 6886, 4-H Community, Warsaw, Mo.

Imagery Award: Team 3184, Burnsville Senior High School, Minn.

Industrial Safety Award: TTeam 4786, Nicolet High School

Innovation in Control Award: Team 5119, Lawrence (Free State, Lawrence High, Virtual, Seabury) Lawrence, Kan.

Judges Award: Team 6420 Muscatine High School, Muscatine, Iowa