CCU has presence at robotics competition

Coastal Carolina University was a sponsoring partner of the 2013 FIRST Robotics Palmetto Regional Competition, a three-day event held in Myrtle Beach for high school students around the state from Feb. 27 to March 2.

More than 1,000 students participated in the event, including 45 teams from as far north as New Jersey, as far south as Florida and as far west as Kentucky.

Horry County teams included the Academy for the Arts, Science and Technology and the Academy for Technology and Academics, as well as four new teams that were launched at Carolina Forest, Conway, Socastee and St. James high schools.
FIRST is the largest organized competitive robotics program in the world. Teams are given a game and a kit, and students have six weeks to use their own ideas and designs to build a robot that can perform the tasks of the game. The competition combines math, science and technology to build and program the robot, but a team also needs fundraising, branding and other skills to be successful, providing something for every student to contribute.