Manual High School hosts robotics competition
PEORIA, Ill – (25 News) – Manual High School played host to robots built for battle in a series of championship matches over the weekend.
Saturday’s event was for the Central Illinois Regional Division of the First Robotics program. Over the past six months, teams from Peoria to East Moline have worked on designing, building, and programming their machines to compete. Close to 20 groups of students in seventh through twelfth grades showed up to participate in contests including object moving, scanning, and more. First Robotics uses events like these as a chance for kids to show off their STEM skills, even giving participants the chance to earn scholarships.
For Peoria’s own Manual High School “Roborams,” it means more than just fun competition.
“It recruits education,” said Hosea Washington, who is a mentor for the team. “It takes the tools of why we’re in the school room, why we’re doing math, why we’re doing engineering, why we’re doing physics, and you actually get to use it.”
Washington adds having the teams return in-person after skipping last year due to COVID-19 adds to the excitement.
The winners go on to the state championship held in Chicago, followed by two national championships: one in Detroit and one on the west coast.
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