M-A robotics team wins regional championship M-A robotics team wins regional championship (March 23, 2005)

The robotics team from Menlo-Atherton High School and its two alliance team partners beat out more than 30 area teams to become regional champions at UC Davis recently.

The M-A team and its alliance partners -- the Harker School in San Jose and Rochester Adams High in Michigan -- qualified for the national championship, to be held April 21-23 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

M-A will also participate in the Silicon Valley Regional Competition from March 24 to 26 at San Jose State University. Woodside High and Woodside Priory will also compete in this event.

The M-A team and its partners at the March 5 regional competition prevailed in robotics trials that have challenged 1,000 teams across the United States.

This year's robots must lift and place pyramid-shaped objects at specified heights. Robots are designed, fabricated, built and tested against a deadline, with all teams' finished work shipped on February 22.

Competing robots are put to the test in live trials, complete with mascots, drums and cheering crowds.

Teams race to complete prescribed tasks against the clock, with members working a pit area to keep robots repaired and functioning.

Robotics competitions are sponsored by the national organization FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). For information, go to usfirst.org. Menlo-Atherton High School Robotics Team 3/6/05

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