S-C High To Host FIRST Robotics Competition

Close to 30 high school robotics teams from five states are making their way
to Sedalia this weekend as Smith-Cotton High School will host the FIRST
Robotics Central Missouri Regional competition. Matches will be held starting
at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 2, and Sunday, April 3, with playoff eliminations set
for Sunday afternoon.

The event is free and open to the public. Concessions will be available and
food trucks will be on site.

The competition, “Rapid React,” requires alliances of three robots to deliver
cargo (playground balls) to a lower hub and upper hub to score points; at
the end of the match, the robots can climb tiered bars for additional points
that increase with the height of the bar. The three-team alliance that wins
the regional will earn spots in the FIRST World Championships later this
spring in Houston.

Team SCREAM (Smith-Cotton Robotics, Engineering And Mathematics) is the
host team. Coach Michael Wright encourages community members to check
out the competition and the students’ innovation that will be on display.
“These robots were designed, built and programmed by the students,”
Wright said. “It is always amazing to see the different ways that teams have
created to address the game’s challenges. Plus, FIRST events are always a
really fun atmosphere – the crowds really get into the competition.”

In the photo: The Smith-Cotton High School gymnasium was transformed into a game
field for the 2019 FIRST Robotics Central Missouri Regional, and it will be
again this weekend for the 2022 competition.

Check out this video to see how Rapid React is played:
https://youtu.be/LgniEjI9cCM