The robotics team at Salem High School, Spartan Robotics, recently competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition circuit. FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” and the goal of the organization is to promote STEM education, teamwork and fair play.

Locally, Salem High is a member of FIRST Chesapeake, which includes teams from Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. This is a worldwide competition that comprises teams from all over the world. The competitions are similar to a physical sporting event, except the teams use robots that are custom designed and built to solve a unique challenge. The challenge changes each year and teams have six weeks to design and build their robot to prepare for competition. For 2018, the challenge is called “Power Up.” Robots can weigh upwards of 150 pounds.

SHS students built their robot in January and February. Then, in March, they entered the competition phase of the season with trips to Hampton Roads, Richmond and Maryland. They won the Hampton Roads event, placing first out of 37 teams. They were fifth in Richmond and won the Imagery Award for the best-designed robot. They did not place in Maryland, but due to the team’s overall success, it was invited to compete in the FIRST World Championship in Detroit from April 24 through 29.

At the FIRST World Championship in Detroit, SHS competed against hundreds of teams from all over the world. According to the FIRST website, over 62 countries and 35,000 attendees were there to compete. The competition took place at the Cobo Center and Ford Field (home of the Detroit Lions). As a fourth-year team, Salem is tremendously honored just to have received an invitation.

Spartan Robotics is a diverse team of students (9 – 12th grade) engaged in bringing a passion for math, science, engineering and computer science to our community and our school. They spent about 30 hours a week after school and on weekends getting the industrial grade robot ready for competition.

-Submitted by Coach Randy Brinkley