Seaside High School hosts FIRST Robotics competition

SEASIDE, Calif. (KION-TV)- The FIRST Robotics Competition Monterey Bay Regional will be hosted at Seaside High School on Friday and Saturday.

This is the first competition event of the season and the first in-person event since 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“We were really looking forward to 2020, 2021, which didn't quite workout,” said Theresa Batema, the Regional Director for FIRST Robotics. “We're very excited to be back here again.

Students geared up for day one of the first robotic competition. Teams fixed and modified their robots for the first regional competition of the season.

“There's a really big community here,” said Alex Weibling, a sophomore with Monterey High School’s Robodores. “Everybody kind of knows each other. If you need any help you can just go ask any team and they'll do their best to help you.”

Monterey High School and Seaside High School will have teams in the event with schools coming from Greenfield, Hollister, Marina, Pacific Grove, Salinas, San Jose, Saratoga, Burlingame, Clovis, Livermore, Los Gatos, Madera, Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Mateo.

“Our teams are currently designing and building their robots and testing them under authentic conditions,” said Robin Coyne," teacher and robotics coach, Monterey High School. "Robotics extends beyond building robots. This program helps students develop leadership skills and further prepare them for their future careers. The sport enhances collaboration, critical thinking, shared creativity, and the ability to go through a design process together to develop solutions."

“Our team has been devoted and motivated to build their robot during their free time after school and on Saturdays,” said teacher and robotics Coach Michelle Chen, Seaside High School. “I’m very proud of how much they’ve learned in just a few short months.”

The competition arena was located at Seaside High School’s Fitzpatrick Gym. There, students would place their robots in the ring for the competition.

For graduating seniors, the competition season is an experience they wanted to share with their younger peers

“We've been talking about how much we love to compete for the past four years,” said Kieler Troy, a senior at Pacific Grove High School’s Breaker Bots. “To finally have these little kids we've been mentoring so long to finally get here and experience it with us, it's just the most fantastic experience.”

The competition continues tomorrow at Seaside High School. 

Because of the pandemic, the competition is not open to spectators. People who want to watch the event can stream it on the first robotics competition website.

Click here to stream the competition.