Our local Skunk Works Robotics 1983 team will compete this week at the Pacific Northwest District Championship in Cheney, where top teams from across Washington and Oregon will vie for a chance to advance to the world stage.
The team will join 50 of the highest-ranked FIRST Robotics Competition teams at the event, which will be held at Reese Court at Eastern Washington University.
Top performing teams from the championship will move on to compete at the FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston in about three weeks.
The FIRST Robotics Competition, known as FRC, is a high school level program in which teams are challenged each year with a new game that requires them to design, build and program a robot in about eight weeks. The robots, which can weigh more than 100 pounds, compete on a field roughly the size of a basketball court with changing rules, obstacles and game pieces each season.
Teams competing in Cheney earned their spots by participating in two qualifying events in March, where they accumulated points based on performance both on and off the field.
Skunk Works is a community team and students from any area school are welcome. Most of its members are from Highline Public Schools or the West Seattle area of Seattle Public Schools although this year there are also two team members from Renton, one from Issaquah and one from the Downtown School. In other years, the team has had students from Vashon and as far away as Arlington or even Olympia.
The team meets in a workspace graciously provided by Highline College and will be holding an open house later in the spring for prospective new members. Interested families can email coach@skunkworks1983.com or visit www.skunkworks1983.com.
