PEORIA (Heart of Illinois ABC) – Teams brought out their robots for the chance at a title in Peoria’s Renaissance Coliseum Saturday, and a local high school is taking home the top prize.
It’s all for the ‘FIRST Robotics’ Central Illinois Regional Competition. 38 teams of high school students went head-to-head, putting their machines to the test. Each team had to compete in a series a challenges, some of which included shooting balls into a funnel and climbing monkey bars. Certain teams even got sponsorships from companies like Caterpillar. Team Argos from Limestone Community High School finished first, earning a blue banner to hang in their school gym.
After not having events in 2020 and competing remotely in 2021, students we spoke with couldn’t wait for the action to happen in-person again.
“You meet all sorts of different people, either from different teams or the surrounding area as well,” said Luke Kunz with the Caterpillar FIRST Team 2481. “I think it’s just really cool to see all the different ideas that came around.”
Mia Pflederer, a senior at Tremont High School, agrees. “My mom always says that these competitions are unlike anything else, so come here expecting to see something you’ll never see anywhere else.”
The competition acts as more than just a chance to meet and compete. It’s also an exercise in thinking outside the box, while getting ahead of the curve when applying to colleges and eventual future jobs.
“Everyone’s trying to solve the same problem. There’s a lot of different ways of doing it, and they’re all the right solutions.” said FIRST Illinois Robotics Executive Director Dan Green.
Along with a title and bragging rights, teams are honored for contributions to their communities with distinctions including the Chairman’s Award, given out every year. This year’s award went to Team Gear It Forward from Oswego.
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