SPOKANE VALLEY – The Oroville Robotics Club, a GEAR-UP sponsored after-school program, competed at the Spokane Valley Tech VEX Robotics Tournament, Saturday, Jan. 20. After 44 Qualification matches, all three Oroville teams made it through to the quarter finals, with the team of Emily Grunert, LeRain Wallace, Xavier McCoy and Michael Oaks advancing through to the finals match.

Each year teams are tasked with designing a robot to maneuver objects on a playing field. Random selection pairs teams together who then work in alliance with each other and share points accumulated.

“It goes without saying that it definitely helps to be paired with another skilled team,” said Laara Peters-Kessler, SLP Assistant.

Success at tournaments is not only measured by driver skill, but also robot design, engineering, programming, the quality of the engineering notebook and teamwork.

“Perseverance plays a big role too and with just hours to go before competition day our teams were still trouble-shooting design and programming issues in preparation for the tournament,” said Peters-Kessler.

Oroville students have the privilege to attend summer camps at Central Washington University, plus local robotics workshops, league play events and official VEX Robotics Tournaments. The culminating event, the VEX World Championship, takes place in Louisville, Kentucky each April, where over 1400 teams from 32+ countries world-wide, compete for the top prize.