KINGMAN – Students from Kingman FIRST Robotics Team 60 recently traveled to Flagstaff, AZ and Las Vegas, NV to compete at the FIRST Robotics Competition Regionals. Flagstaff was hosted by Coconino High School and Las Vegas was held at Thomas and Mack UNLV Campus.
The team finished 17th at the Arizona North FRC Regional and was seeded 29th at Las Vegas and walked away as part of the first-place alliance from that event along with winning the Gracious Professionalism Award as well.
At both regional competitions the robotics team worked through hurdles, including working around a snowed in Flagstaff event. They overcame several mechanical issues and came back to Kingman in between competitions to tweak a few things in their robot design in preparation for the regional at UNLV.
The two other teams in the Tri-State Alliance are 987, High Rollers, from Las Vegas Nevada, and 4144, High Tide, Ventura California, which were number 1 and 2 respectively. Those teams, along with Team 60, proved to be unstoppable in the semifinals and finals, ending in first place at the event.
The Team 60 drive team and robot was chosen for their defensive driving skills as well as a sturdy robot, allowing their alliance partners the opportunity to concentrate on scoring, the Bionic Bulldogs maintained their defensive skills and put the tri-state alliance (Nevada, California and Arizona) on the field in First Place. The winning alliance of Team 987 and Team 60 has not been seen since 2011, when they both went on to worlds to have a strong showing there as well on individual levels.
The Bulldogs didn’t just walk away with first place, they also garnered the Gracious Professionalism Award at this competition as well. This award is presented by judges at the event to a team that demonstrates the ethos of the late Woodie Flowers, co-founder of the FIRST Program. That ethos is a team that demonstrates graciousness on and off the field.
Team 60, the Bionic Bulldogs, Kingman FIRST Robotics has this ethos embedded not only in competition, but in their day-to-day operations as part of their by-laws and operating procedures. They are community supported, and the students learn that they need to bring this ideal into their daily lives and it has become the cornerstone of the team.
The competition theme this year was the water-based theme of REEFSCAPE. The junior high school and high school students comprised of local schools and homeschooled students started this season off on January fourth when the students were provided with the game challenge. They spent the next 8 weeks designing, strategizing, building and preparing for the competitions.
Their build season with the two regionals is complete, but they are not done for the year. They are now planning their FLL (FIRST Lego League) Summer Camp which is scheduled to take place May 27-30th at the Kingman High School Campus. This event is open to students in 2nd-8th grade.
Registrations will be posted within the upcoming weeks with applications being available through Kingman Parks and Recreation as well as at the Kingman Chamber of Commerce and via our website, https://www.frcteam60.com/.
Team 60, Kingman Bionic Bulldogs, was established in 1996 at Kingman High School with its first competition in the FIRST Program taking place in the spring of 1997. It has continued to grow and expand to become a community team, welcoming students from 7th-12th grade whether public school, charter, private home-schooled or online into its organization.
Students are encouraged to broaden their STEM (and Art) skills or learn from the basics and find a place for themselves within the STEM community. The organization welcomes anyone, students or adults interested in giving their time as volunteers, who are interested in a multitude of disciplines, not just science, math or engineering to stop in and check them out.
Team 60 is supported by Woodmark Foundation, Preston Investments, Optimum, Desert De Oro Foods and Mohave County Superintendent of Schools, KRMC Foundation.
