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.

"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."

Student-made robots speed across the playing field, collecting hatch pins or cargo and moving them to a tower.

Teams from three different schools have to work together, hoping to outscore their opponents.

Atwater High contributed to the winning team in this round, even though the robot they built over the six weeks of the competition broke.

"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.