Team 1418 from George Mason High School overcame a number of early problems to make it to the semifinals at the FIRST Robotics Virginia Regional Tournament in Richmond last weekend.

The Drive Team maneuvered the robot to throw Frisbees into goals and climb a tower for eight matches in the preliminary rounds, finishing 25th out of 65 teams. During the finals their alliance of three teams bested the no. 1 seed twice in the quarterfinals to make it to the semifinal rounds, where they couldn’t keep up with the fast shooting of the no. 4 seed.

FIRST Robotics is a program geared toward making a robotics game similar to a sporting event. Events are high energy in the stands and on the playing field. Every year a different game is developed and teams are given six weeks to create a new robot that can perform the tasks of the game. Each match is made up of two teams of three randomly picked robots forming an alliance pitted against each other and no two matches contain the same group, making each match a new challenge.

Team 1418 will play again in the DC Regional Tournament next weekend, March 29 – 30, at the DC Convention Center.