Grandview robotics team still buzzing after making international debut

Grandview Heights' Ursa Major Robitics Team in Houston, Texas for the FIRST Robotics World Championships.The rookie Grandview Heights Secondary Robotics team that made a big splash on the regional robotics circuit in March has landed back home following its debut on the world stage.

Ursa Major Robotics recently took part in the FIRST Robotics World Championships held in Houston, Texas, and according to teacher and team coach Scott Smith, came away with excitement and anticipation for next year’s season.

“It was such a mind-blowing experience for the students,” said Smith. “If you were to compare the regionals we did in Victoria with a local football game, going to the worlds in Houston was like attending the Super Bowl.”

With more than 18,000 students in attendance from 59 countries, the FIRST Robotics World Championships is one of the year’s biggest STEM competitions. Held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, the event drew approximately 50,000 people from around the world and saw 974 student teams compete across three categories.

The oldest and most popular category, which was the one the Ursa Major Robotics Team was competing in, is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). The category challenges student teams to build industrial-sized robots that take part in field games in alliances with other teams and complete tasks like collecting balls or cones or balancing on specific obstacles. While the FRC category typically sees around 400 teams compete, this year had 630.

“Coming in as a rookie team, I kept telling students not to worry about our standings, but we still ended up coming in maybe around 500 out of 630, which was incredible for a new team,” said Smith. “Some of these other teams have been around for decades, and so we were like a goldfish amongst whales, but still held our own.”

Students also made the most of their time in Houston by connecting with other teams from around the world and exchanging valuable information on coding, repair methods, and material use. It was this sense of community, said Smith, that was one of the most important takeaways from the event.

“We had veteran teams coming over to visit us because they knew we were a rookie team, and they wanted to help us improve our robot, even if they were competing against us,” he said. “That’s the beauty of this event and sport; everyone is wanting to help raise each other up and come together for the purpose of learning and solving problems.”

Now that the team is back on home soil, Smith said everyone is looking forward to next year, with one team member even looking to return after they graduate this June.

That same student had originally been planning to pursue medicine in his post-secondary career, but Smith said after his time with Ursa Major Robotics, has decided to study robotics engineering instead.

“So that's the impact this kind of program can have. It's changing lives and giving students exposure to fields they may not even have considered otherwise.”

See more from the Ursa Major Robotics team on their Instagram page. To learn more about the First Robotics World Championships, click here.