FRC Team 180 S.P.A.M. Robotics, a high school robotics team made up of students in Martin County, is preparing to compete in the FIRST World Championship in Houston, TX.
The team traveling to Houston includes students from Jensen Beach High School, Martin County High School, South Fork High School and other area schools. The competition takes place April 17- 20, 2024.
S.P.A.M. qualified for the FIRST Robotics World Championship after winning at the South Florida Regional Robotics competition at the end of February 2024.
The team continued winning at the Tallahassee Regional competition, where they broke a record by scoring 125 points and earned the Autonomous Award.
S.P.A.M. started its season on a high note: the team moved into a brand-new state-of-the-art facility at the beginning of the year, thanks in part to the Martin County School Board.
The new facility is located at the Martin County School District Building and provides enough space for the robotics team to build an entire competition field, plus utilize multiple areas for machinery. An open house was held for the facility in January, the same day the FIRST robotics season kicked off.
S.P.A.M. was first created in 1997 and has been igniting a passion for critical thinking and innovation in students ever since. The team has a long history of winning regional competitions and even won the FIRST World Championship back in 2012.
The FIRST Robotics Competition is a program that challenges high school students—working with professional mentors—to design and build a robot to contend in competitions that measure effectiveness, the power of collaboration, and students' determination. FIRST was created in 1989 to design accessible K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education programs that use robot challenges to build students' skills and interest in these fields.
Watch a video highlighting their journey here: