April 19, 2023

This weekend, 41 athletes from Titan Robotics (FRC 5431) will travel to Houston, Texas to compete in the 2023 FIRST® Robotics World Championship. This tournament will host 626 teams from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, Israel, Brazil, China, Japan and many others. According to FIRST®, "the event is a culminating, international event for our youth robotics competition season and an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for our community as we prepare young people for the future." These learners have dedicated thousands of hours collaborating to design, build and program a robot under the specific guidelines set forth for the 2022-2023 circuit.

In order to qualify for the world championships, the team competed in district, regional and state-clustered events where robots compete against one-another. On top of receiving placement points, additional awards can be obtained during these competitions. This year, the team competed in the Dallas and Fort Worth District events. At the Dallas event, Titan Robotics finished in 3rd place while earning the "Gracious Professionalism" Award. In Forth Worth, the team had a deep run in the tournament, eventually being knocked out in the quarterfinals, while also earning the "Team Spirit" Award. Through these events, Titan Robotics qualified for the state-clustered tournament, competing against the top 80 teams in Texas and New Mexico. Only 32 teams from each state cluster advance to the World Tournament. Academy High School will continue to Houston, Texas, ranked 24th among Texas and New Mexico teams.