HELENA — Helena-based Fusion, Nebula, and Protostars robotics teams competed in the Helena state qualifier for the Montana Robotics Alliance on Saturday.
“It’s just really cool to see what the rest of Montana can produce in terms of electronics and robotics," said Harrison Plummer of Protostars Robotics.
(Hear from the Helena students who competed)
Twenty-four robotics teams from across the state descended on Helena this weekend for the Montana Robotics Alliance’s first Tech Challenge state championship qualifier matches.
Kathleen Cook, a team captain for Fusion 4133, was excited about the Helena qualifiers action because the squad missed the last qualifying event in Butte due to road conditions.
“It's really great to have it here, it gives us a little bit of extra time and it allows us to help out like we brought the practice field today and we're also able to bring more of our tools and equipment so when teams need to fix things or have things that are going wrong we have the spare parts able to help them out," said Cook.
Nebula team member Levi Adkins told MTN News that robotics has become a part of him over his years of competition.
“Robotics has helped me greatly in life. I’ve already been reached out to for scholarships; I just love engineering and building things and teaching people, which has helped me get a job at the local science museum to teach kids about what I do and help them pursue their careers as engineers as well," noted Adkins.
For Protostars team member Harrison Plummer, robotics has been a way to learn new skills.
“I've learned to do stuff like 3D CAD, which is something we do a lot with our robots; we 3D print stuff,” said Plummer
Qualifying matches went throughout the day on Saturday, and the top eighteen of the twenty-four teams, including Fusion, who finished thirteenth, and Nebula, who finished eighteenth, qualified for the state championship on February 6th and 7th in Bozeman.
