Valley students come together to compete at robotics regional championship

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The call to action at the FIRST Robotics regional championship stands as proof of how fun it can be to learn science.[br /][br /]"We aren't just sitting around in dark computer rooms not talking to anybody," said Kacey Pitcher, member of the Clovis North robotics team. "There's a lot of social interaction, a very enthusiastic game. Very challenging and exciting to watch."[br /][Ads /][br /]Student-made robots speed across the playing field, collecting hatch pins or cargo and moving them to a tower.[br /][br /]Teams from three different schools have to work together, hoping to outscore their opponents.[br /][br /]Atwater High contributed to the winning team in this round, even though the robot they built over the six weeks of the competition broke.[br /][br /]"We're the underdogs of the group, so we have a bot that's not going to be looked at as 'we're veterans.' We're rookies," said team member Laker Gonzales. "So people overlook us, but doing something like that especially against other bots that are bigger than us and better than us, we immediately jump up in the ranks.]][br /][br /]Gonzales says he almost forgets it's a competition because it's so fun.[br /][Ads /][br /]His Falcons could've folded, but they built up a substitute and played defense on the field.[br /][br /]FIRST Robotics has an obvious engineering foundation, but there's space for everyone, fabricators, business people, and of course techies -- and they all become friends.[br /][br /]"We're all people who like technology. Most of us like technology within games. Some of us like technology within building little things. When we all come together we eventually get to a place like this and work on stuff like this, which is the coolest thing ever," Gonzales said.[br /][br /]"We're all here for the same purpose, which is spreading STEM into the communities, making our communities better, and increasing diversity in STEM fields," Pitcher said.[br /][br /]Four teams in each age group will come out winners and move on to the world championships in Houston next month, including the all-girl team from Red Bank Elementary School.