"FIRST" Robotics Competition kicks off in the Fox Valley
A Fox Valley student with the Wave Robotics team is pictured on January 3, 2015, when the annual "FIRST" Robotics Competition kicked off for teams around the country.
APPLETON - Science and engineering will be the focus over the next few weeks for some Fox Valley students.
The annual "FIRST" Robotics Competition kicked off Saturday for teams around the country.
The competition brings students together with business and industry mentors to design a robot to complete an assigned task.
This year, the theme is "Recycle Rush."
The machines they create must be able to pick up recycling totes and containers, stack them and fill them with "litter."
Those involved say it's a lot of hard work and dedication.
"We're doing a lot of work after hours. The students are working side by side with engineers. They're designing the mechanics of the robot. They're doing the programming for it. They're fabricating parts in our manufacturing lab, and they're putting it all together into a functioning robot," said mentor Sean Schuff.
Robotics teams have just over six weeks to design, build and test their robots for competitions which lead to the national Championships in April in Saint Louis.
