Memorial Robotics Team Heads for Atlanta

Chris Howell, NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK  -- Members of the Tulsa Engineering Academy at Memorial team are packing their suitcases for a trip to Atlanta.  The robot they designed and built for the FIRST Robotics Competition successfully competed in its regional matches and the team is headed for the championships in Georgia this weekend.

"We won the Chairman's Award to attend Atlanta," said T.E.A.M. Director Lane Matheson, "and that's all about what you do within your community, in your school, how we're growing robotics within the state of Oklahoma."

The 53 students on the team put in over 65 hours each to design, build and program the robot to compete against other robots at gathering balls to place in opponents' bins.  Memorial students say they were great at building the robot, but could use more practice driving it.

"We did extremely well, we helped a lot of other teams,' according to team member Bridget Taylor.  "The main problem with our robot is probably the driving but we're working on that.  I think it'll be a really great opportunity for everyone, even if we don't win it's all about the experience."