Broncos, Arrow team up to power Colorado robotics team to international competition – DenverBroncos.com (blog)

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. For 4388 Ridgebotics, a Fort Collins-based competitive robotics team with championship dreams, a sponsor was their only hope. The trip to Houston for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship seemed to be financially out of reach that is, until the Denver Broncos and Arrow Electronics stepped in.

The Broncos and Arrow had announced they would support a Colorado FIRST robotics team's trip to the international championship, which hosts teams from 39 countries and takes place April 19-23. After qualifying for the championship, Ridgebotics also took home the sponsorship.

Ridgebotics got the opportunity for the sponsorship after qualifying for the international championship in the Colorado regional that took place at the University of Denver on March 24.

"Before the sponsorship, we weren't sure if we were going to go, considering the funding that we had at that time," Ridgebotics' captain Carissa Vos said. "So we were all looking forward to when we heard we could apply for this and potentially get it. ... And once we found out we got it, we were super excited. We've been awaiting this day ever since."

For many members of the team who are also Broncos fans, the funding isn't even the best part. The best part is being able to represent the Broncos.

"I can't even describe it," Vos said. "Once we found out, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, we're going to have the Broncos' logo on the back of our shirts and ... we're going to have the Broncos and Arrow [as] part of our name when they announce our team a couple times throughout the competition.' And we have the jerseys and some pants and hats that's just super cool, too.

As part of the sponsorship, the Broncos invited Ridgebotics to visit UCHealth Training Center, where they have the young engineers an opportunity to get an inside look Friday at how the team operates. The Ridgebotics members also received shirts, hats and a pair of Broncos jerseys representing the team name before they were to leave for the four-day competition.

The students were pleasantly surprised the Broncos had a sponsorship for a high-school robotics team, as those on the Ridgebotics team knew they would need some help to get to Houston.

When it was announced at [FIRST Robotics Competition] Kickoff, that was just really cool to see, Vos said. "And I was like, All right, weve got to go for that."

In Houston, they will compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition, where teams of high-school students and mentors over six weeks compete in a difficult field game with robots they built over a six-week period.

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Broncos, Arrow team up to power Colorado robotics team to international competition - DenverBroncos.com (blog)