Howell High School’s FIRST Robotics team — the S.C.O.T.S. Bots — is headed to the FIRST in Michigan State Championship after claiming the Chairman’s Award at the Gull Lake FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) District Event on Saturday, March 12.
The Chairman’s Award is the highest honor in FIRST Robotics and is bestowed to the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology and encourage more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders. The FIRST in Michigan State Championship will be held April 13-16 at Saginaw Valley State University.
At the competition, the S.C.O.T.S. Bots were selected as members of the third alliance for the playoff matches. With their alliance partners from East Kentwood High School and Zeeland West and East High Schools, the alliance advanced to the semi-finals before being eliminated.
The S.C.O.T.S. Bots will be back in action April 7-9 at the FIRST in Michigan Jackson District Event before heading to the state event.
This year’s FRC game is RAPID REACT. In the game, teams must use innovative engineering, creative thinking, and teamwork to reimagine the future of safe, high-speed travel and lightning-fast deliveries. During match play, two competing alliances use their robots to process cargo for transportation by retrieving their assigned cargo and scoring it into the hub. In the final moments of each match, alliance robots race to engage with their hangar to prepare for transport.
