Ready for the Regional

February 24, 2008

By Greg B.

Robotics teams are revving up their cheers, printing team t-shirts and put the finishing touches on strategy as FIRST Overdrive zooms full-speed ahead into Williams Arena March 27- 29. There, more than a thousand high school students, mentors and volunteers from 54 FIRST Robotics teams from around the Midwest will be ready to take their robot to the limit during the first annual FIRST Minnesota Regional competition.  All events are free and open to the public! Starting on Thursday, March 27th, FIRSTteams set up their workstations (pits) at the University of Minnesota’s Sports Pavilion, unpacking robots, going through inspection, and taking a few practice spins around the track.  The non-stop action of the qualifying rounds will begin in earnest at 9:30 AM Friday morning. For eight continuous hours on Friday  -- and an additional three on Saturday morning -- spectators can watch teams compete for the highest possible score in the hopes that they can lay claim to becoming one of eight top seeds. These top eight teams will have the privilege of choosing their two alliance partners for the elimination rounds. Only with a combination of mechanical brilliance, strategic analysis, and sheer audacity can a team hope to lead their alliance to victory!