Wave Staff Report
CULVER CITY — The Culver City High School Robotics Team is raising funds to compete in an international robotics competition in Houston next month after finishing first in a regional competition March 18 and 19.
The team has established a Go Fund Me campaign and is hoping to raise $20,000 for the competition that will be held April 19-22.
The team is funded in part by the Culver City Education Foundation and is seeking to raise funds to take all 20 team members, plus their faculty advisors to the Houston competition.
Funds raised will cover the costs of registration for all students and staff, transportation, food and lodging, incidentals and shipping the 125-pound robot to the competition.
“I want to thank all of the coaches, students, parents, and the community for their interest and efforts in making our robotics team No. 1,” said Darrick Rice, the district’s career technical education coordinator.
The Culver City High team took first place in the FIRST Los Angeles Regional Robotics Competition held at the DA Vinci Schools campus in El Segundo. FIRST is short for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.
The nonprofit organization pairs students with science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals for hands-on engineering experience and practice with problem-solving, team building, fundraising and promotion, among other skills.
Teams in the competition receive technical specifications and game rules in January and have just weeks to design, build and test their wheeled robots.
This year’s game, dubbed “Charged Up,” is themed around the future of sustainable energy. Two alliances of three teams compete on a “playing field” that is about 26 by 54 feet. In each 2 ½-minute round, the teams’ robots must retrieve rubber cones and inflatable cubes that represent electrical power from “substations” and place them into a “grid.” Robots also race to roll up onto a wobbling “charge station” for extra points.
For more information on the team, visit the team’s website at www.team702robotics.com/.
