Surfing in from Gainesville’s PK Yonge Development Research School at the University of Florida, is FIRST Robotics Competition team 4118, Roaring Riptide! Students on Riptide are known for being very recognizable at competitions because they all wear red pants to show off their lifeguard spirit! A signature point of pride for this 11-year-old team is their work in Assistive Technology.
“We presented at FIRST World Championships on our Tidal Wave of AT Kits! It’s an initiative we started in early 2020 (right before COVID). Our program is now nationwide. ”
Since their founding, the students of Roaring Riptide have contributed over 4500 hours to promote STEM education, assistive technology outreach, and within other FIRST program levels. Check out their 2022 Impact Award video below:
Their sponsors include the Department of Defense STEM, Pratt & Whitney, Tucker Davis Technologies, Piece Part Manufacturing, Jaquie Knowles of Coldwell Banker, and PK Yonge Developmental Research School
You can see this great team at ROBOTICON’s FIRST Robotics Competition off-season event October 8 & 9 at University Mall.
Our FIRST Robotics Competition teams will be playing the game “Rapid React“, which is played by two alliances of three teams each, with each team controlling a robot and completing specific challenges in order to score points.
The main scoring elements are “Cargo,” represented by over-sized tennis balls, about the size of a soccer ball, which teams vie to shoot into a central Hub and then a climbing challenge that provides extra points at the end of a match, depending on high up the hangar assembly their robots can go before the buzzer signals the end of the match. The overall objective of each match is to score more points than the opposing alliance before the match ends.
You can enjoy a full weekend of Rapid React gameplay at ROBOTICON, at University Mall (soon to be RITHM at Uptown) , in Tampa, FL, October 8 & 9!
There will also be an Innovation Fair for all to enjoy and opportunities to learn how to get involved in or start teams in your school or community. ROBOTICON Tampa Bay is free and open to the public. Visit our event page to see the schedule for our Manufacturing Month event, which will feature different competitive robotics programs each weekend in October! Teams interested in registering can do so HERE through September 30.