High school students from across the region unveil 2018 robots at King's event

2017 Unveiling Event at King's
Photo courtesy King's

5th Annual Unveiling Event scheduled for February 9, 2018

FRC Team 4911 CyberKnights, King’s High School’s robotics team, is proud to announce the 5th annual unveiling event which will be held February 9, 2018 at King’s High School in Shoreline. This is an invitation only event and is not open to the public.

Dozens of robotic teams from high schools across the region, along with numerous teams across the world joining through live stream, will come together to “unveil” the robot they are building for the 2018 FIRST Robotics Competition Season. Just a few short weeks later, these teams will be battling it out on the field for a chance to compete at the FIRST Robotics World Championships in April.

The FIRST Robotics Competition is an international high school robotics competition that gives students real-world engineering experience. Under strict rules, limited resources and an intense, six-week time limit, teams are challenged to build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors.

This year’s game is called FIRST POWER UP. It has a retro arcade vibe, where teams are “trapped” in a video game and must defeat the boss in order to escape.

Washington State teams have performed well in the global competition with Viking Robotics from Ballard High School on the winning alliance in 2017.

The unveiling event will start with a catered dinner provided by Red Cork Bistro and Catering. Teams will then take turns unveiling their robots which may include CAD drawings, partially built robots, or completely finished bots. In the FIRST spirit of “coopertition” teams will share ideas and provide feedback to each other to help everyone improve.

“The unveiling event is a highlight of the year for me,” said Madeleine Schwitters, CyberKnights President and VP of Engineering. “It’s so fun to see how the different teams approach the game challenge and to learn from other students.”

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. Based in Manchester, NH, the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.

FIRST is More Than Robots. FIRST participation is proven to encourage students to pursue education and careers in STEM-related fields, inspire them to become leaders and innovators, and enhance their 21st century work-life skills.

The CyberKnights seek to inspire an interest and passion for science and technology while preparing students to become industry leaders in tomorrow’s competitive global marketplace.

The King’s High School’s award-winning robotics program serves as an educational community within King’s Schools as well as FIRST ® Robotics.

The CyberKnights serve as the founding team of King’s Robotics, a group of FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge, FIRST Lego League, and FIRST Lego League Jr. teams. In its endeavor to successfully embody FIRST values and goals, the CyberKnights seek to create a team culture that sustains their community for years to come. From team recruitment, developing student leaders, maintaining a gender-equal team, serving as FIRST ambassadors in outreach, collaborating with each other in a student-led environment and asking corporations to support them as the next generation of leaders, the CyberKnights strive to be an organization of people impacting the world for FIRST.

Starting in 2009 in FIRST Tech Challenge with eight students, the CyberKnights have inspired over 10% of the K-12 students to participate in FIRST programs. CyberKnights Alumni have gone on to pursue fields in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), and return to invest in the program as mentors for the current team. The team continues to develop its members in leadership, collaboration, and communication skills.