Utah’s 2016 Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition
It was a clash of the metallic titans as nearly 40 high school teams from Utah and elsewhere converged at the Maverik Center in West Valley City for the annual Utah Regional FIRST Robotics Competition.
This year’s event, held March 18 and 19, involved students building and controlling robots that catapulted balls into castle windows. High schools that participated in this regional event came from as far away as Florida, Hawaii and Alberta, Canada. Twenty-one of the teams were from Utah.
The winners of the regional competition now move on to the FIRST national championship in St. Louis. That event was held April 27-30, 2016.
“The FIRST Robotics competition has done as much as any other program to increase interest in engineering among high school students,” said Richard B. Brown, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Utah, who kicked off the event during the first day’s opening ceremony. “Competition is motivating, and these teams work very hard as they learn about not only robotics but also electronics, materials, wireless communication, computer programming, problem solving and teamwork.”
Media Coverage
- March 8, “U to Host and Compete in FIRST Robotics Competition” – Utah Daily Chronicle
- March 15, “Robots take over the Maverik Center for three days” – KUTV (includes 1 video)
- March 16, “Robotics competition to turn Maverik Center into battlefield” – Deseret News
- March 18, “PHOTOS: Robots take to the battlefield during FIRST Robotics competition” – Deseret News
Awards – Saturday, March 19
An asterisk denotes a team or contestant who qualified for the FIRST Chamionship 2016® in St. Louis, MO.
Team Spirit Award sponsored by FCA Foundation | Team 3241 Davinci Dragon Army from Ogden, Utah |
Creativity Award sponsored by Xerox | Team 4585 Husky Robotics from Midvale, Utah |
Entrepreneurship Award sponsored by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers | Team 1477 Texas Torque from The Woodlands, Texas |
Rookie Inspiration Award sponsored by National Instruments | Team 5974 Mechanical Dragons from Murray, Utah |
Quality Award sponsored by Motorola Solutions Foundation | Team 3374 RoboBroncs from Jackson, Wyoming |
Gracious Professionalism® Award sponsored by Johnson & Johnson | Team 3245 Ravens from Sandy, Utah |
Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors | Team 3021 The Agency from Escondido, California |
Judges’ Award | Team 2478 Westwood Robotics from Mesa, Arizona |
Industrial Safety Award sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories | |
Innovation in Control Award sponsored by Rockwell Automation | Team 3230 PrototypeX from Salt Lake City, Utah |
Excellence in Engineering Award sponsored by Delphi | Team 4334 Alberta Tech Alliance (ATA) from Calgary, Alberta |
Highest Rookie Seed Award | |
Regional/District Finalist | |
Rookie All-Star Award | Team 5933* Judgement Call from Salt lake City, Utah |
Engineering Inspiration Award | Team 329* Mohawks from Medford, New York |
FIRST Dean’s List Finalist Award | Emily Ferrari Team 329* Mohawks from Medford, New York Edward O’Connor |
Regional Chairman’s Award | Chu hu nin Team 2468* Team Appreciate from Austin, Texas |
Awards – Friday, March 18
Volunteer of the Year Award | |
Imagery Award In Honor of Jack Kamen |
Team 1622 Team Spyder from Poway, California |
Woodie Flowers Finalist Award |
Important Dates
March 17, 2015: FRC® Competition: Robot inspection and practice rounds
March 18, 2015: FRC® Competition: Competition day 1
March 19, 2015: FRC® Competition: Competition day 2, finals, and awards ceremony
The Competition: STRONGHOLD
FIRST STRONGHOLDSM is played by two alliances of three teams each. Alliances compete against each other to breach their opponents’ defenses, known as outer works, and capture their tower. They score points by crossing elements of their opponents’ outer works, scoring boulders in their opponents’ tower goals, and surrounding and scaling their opponents’ tower itself.
Teams
View all teams registered for Utah’s 2016 Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition
Free and Open to the Public
See the public schedule/agenda and plan your trip to enjoy Utah’s FRC® Regional Competition.
Photo Gallery
2016 Sponsors
The following sponsors are making the 2016 Utah FIRST® Robotics Competition possible through their generous support: