Robotics team wins invitational in Indiana

Your news

On July 20 and 21, the WildStang Robotics Team won the Indiana Robotics Invitational held in Indianapolis, Ind.

Seventy-two teams competed in this event, modeled after the FIRST Robotics Competition. The letters stand for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

The team also received the "Quality Award" for having the best operating robot at the competition.

The WildStang Robotics Team is made up of students from Rolling Meadows and Wheeling high schools. Together, they partner with teachers, parents, and engineering mentors from Motorola to build a robot for the annual FIRST Robotics Competition.

During 2007, the WildStang team competed at the Midwest Regional (winning for the third time in a row); the West Michigan Regional (second place), and the Championships (placing ninth). The team was honored in 2006 with the "Chairman's Award" as the best overall team in the FIRST Robotics Competition.

The WildStang team will be entering their 13th year. Motorola has sponsored the team throughout its history. Four current mentors from Motorola participated on the WildStang team when they were in high school.

FIRST is a national robotics competition involving over 1,500 high school teams nationally and over 30,000 students. The goal of FIRST is to get students interested in engineering and technical careers.

This competition is the largest and most established off-season event that FIRST Robotics Teams participate in. There were teams from Israel, Canada, California as well as the Midwestern.

FIRST is sponsored by entrepreneur Dean Kamen. Regional competitions are held throughout the world during March culminating with the Championships held in April.