WILDWOOD, Mo. – The St. Louis Mid League Tournament, a FIRST Tech Challenge competition (FTC), pitted dozens of robotics teams against each other for a trip to the state competition on Feb. 1. 

What You Need To Know

  • FIRST Tech Challenge is a metal robotics program constructed and coded by young engineers
  • Three teams will move on to the March FIRST Tech Challenge state tournament

  • These FIRST Tech Challenge events teach young engineers STEM skills with robotics and teamwork

  • Ten other teams will head to Super-Qualifiers on Feb. 15 for another shot at making the state tournament

Teams brought their constructed and coded robots to Lafayette High School where they teamed up with another robotics team to square off against two opposing teams. Teams could gain points in a variety of ways including hooking items on a bar, putting items in a raised basket, and even having their robot grab a bar and suspend itself. 

Each team competed multiple times before the finals rounds commenced. X Bots, a Wildwood based team comprised of multiple Lafayette students, scored the most points in the pre-finals rounds. Verge, the pre-finals second place team and also from Wildwood, teamed up with X Bots in the finals. The two steamrolled competition in the playoffs with a 3-0 record.

The Inspire Award winners, Verge (1st), X Bots (2nd) and Force Green (3rd), each will go on to the Missouri Kansas Championship in Rolla on March 8.

The BOSONS and KAONS, who teamed up in playoffs winning two of their four playoff rounds at Saturday’s tournament, will join eight others for the Super-Qualifiers on Feb. 15 at Oakville High School.