The Klamath Coyotes robotics team will compete in the FTC Western Super-Regional Championship tournament next weekend after winning the Innovate Award for their robot design at the State Championship in Portland last weekend.

The team, made up of nine students from Klamath Union High School and one from Ponderosa Middle School, competed against 48 teams for two days at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland to secure their place, playing five matches and an elimination match, which knocked them out.

I am thrilled for them, co-coach Betsy Neuman said. They are learning so much more than robotics and engineering, including, teamwork, problem solving abilities, stress management and gracious professionalism. They are gracious competitors and thats a great skill they take with them in sports and school.

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The team has been together for five years, starting out as a FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League tasked with researching and developing a solution to real-world problems, such as food safety, energy and recycling; and designing, building and programming a robot to compete with others in the same field.

Last season the team moved up to the FIRST Tech Challenge and have competed at various tournaments across the country, including the World Championships in St. Louis, Mo. in 2016. This is the second time the team will attend the Western Super-Regional Championship.

Inside the groups den in downtown Klamath Falls, they came together on Tuesday to discuss some of the robots imperfections that need fixing, ways to make it stronger for the upcoming competition and fundraising methods to cover the competitions admission cost of $500.

Using a homemade replica of the competition ring, students directed the robot, KCHOWL5B, via a wireless internet connection between a smartphone on the robot and two video game controllers connected to another smartphone manned by the team.

The Coyotes are the only team from Southern Oregon and one of 13 teams of around 500 in the state to go to the Western Super-Regional Championship in Tacoma, Wash. on March 10 through March 12, co-coach Mike Neuman said, adding the team has a one-in-three chance of making it to the World Championship for the second year in a row.

Im excited, team member Seth Gebauer said. It was a close call though, we almost didnt make it and state is super competitive.

The team is looking forward to interacting with other teams from various states at the tournament, including, Alaska, Hawaii and California, and said they enjoy seeing familiar faces from previous years and other competitions.

The game is more than robots, Neuman said. Its about connecting with other players and forming relationships.

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Robotics team carves path for success - Herald and News