Oak Ridge Today

Reminder: Fundraiser for Secret City Wildbots features award-winning film on world’s water

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Sling Shot Press Release

A film screening this month will feature an inspirational movie about a tiny technological solution that could be used to clean up the world’s water supply. The screening of the award-winning documentary will also raise money for the Oak Ridge High School’s FIRST Robotics Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots.

The fundraiser and screening will start at 7 p.m. Friday, February 20, in the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center, a press release said. The Secret City Wildbots will begin the evening with a short demonstration of the team’s robot from 7-7:20 p.m. The screening of the 97-minue film will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. [Read more…]

UT College of Engineering helps kick off robot season; Secret City Wildbots take part

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Oak Ridge Secret City Wildcats

From left to right, Eli Charles, Olivia Mahathy, Steven Charles. and Moire Gabor, part of the Secret City Wildbots from Oak Ridge High School, work on the initial stages of their robot. (Photos courtesy UT)

 

KNOXVILLE—For many, the end of football season usually means attention turns to basketball, but for more than 400 budding scientists and engineers who came to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday it marks the start of something else: robot season.

FIRST Robotics kicked off its 2015 game, Recycle Rush, with a live reveal broadcast online to teams around the world, including 29 teams who gathered at Cox Auditorium on the UT campus.

“Saturday marks the first time that any of the teams get to see the challenge of this year’s game,” said L.J. Robinson, Tennessee’s regional director of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). “The kickoff event is a big deal in its own right, with gatherings held around the world to watch the announcement.

“Certainly, it’s an exciting moment for those new to the competition.” [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots make robotics quarterfinals, but not semifinals

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Secret City Wildbots Lisa Buckner

The Secret City Wildbots survived the qualification rounds 6-4-0 and were selected to join alliance #6, advancing to the elimination rounds. Team 4265 representative Sydney Buckner, pictured, accepts the invitation from the alliance captain, Team 4077. (Photo by Angi Agle)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 7:41 p.m.

The Secret City Wildbots survived the qualification rounds 6-4-0 in the in the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis, Mo., this week and advanced to the elimination rounds.

Saturday evening update: The Secret City Wildbots made it as far as the quarterfinals, but did not advance to the semifinals.

See previous photos and video here.

Local FIRST robotics teams dominate regionals, advance to national competition

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First Robotics Competition

From left, Oak Ridge High School’s Andreas Franco feeds discs into the team’s robot as Tag Groff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory mentor Mark Buckner, and Amelia DiAngelo manage the controls. (Photo by Jason Richards/ORNL)

Frisbee-flinging robots took over the Knoxville Convention Center last weekend, as thousands of high school students, mentors, and volunteers gathered for the third annual FIRST robotics Smoky Mountains regional competition.

Local teams Hardin Valley Academy, Oak Ridge High School, and Halls High School netted the championship title in a nail-biting finale at the regional event, qualifying them to compete in the national finals held April 24-27 in St. Louis. A team from Roane County High School, which won the Rookie All Star award, is also bound for nationals. The four high schools are among 14 teams sponsored by UT-Battelle, the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The FIRST robotics competition gives high school teams six weeks to design, build, and program a complex robot that can meet the intense demands of the year’s game. Throwing discs and climbing pyramids were among the challenges of the 2013 game, called Ultimate Ascent. [Read more…]

UT-Battelle donates $50,000 to Oak Ridge science competition

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UT-Battelle Grant Robots

UT-Battelle has announced a $50,000 donation for the FIRST Robotics and FIRST Lego science competition for Oak Ridge schools. Pictured above are, from left, Thomas Zacharia, Jeff Smith, Martin Keller, and Thom Mason. (Photo submitted by ORPSEF)

UT-Battelle has announced a $50,000 gift to fund the FIRST Robotics and FIRST Lego science competitions for Oak Ridge schools.

The announcement came as part of the capital campaign sponsored by the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation to make a “critical difference” by providing additional resources to Oak Ridge teachers and students.

Two of the region’s most popular and fastest growing activities, FIRST Robotics and FIRST LEGO are team competitions that combine the excitement of sports with real-world challenges of science and technology.

[Read more…]