Missouri S&T will once again host the FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship on Saturday, March 7, welcoming hundreds of middle and high school students to campus for a themed robotics competition.

The event begins at 11:40 a.m. in the Gale Bullman Building, and is hosted by S&T’s Kummer Center for STEM Education. It will bring 36 teams from Missouri and Kansas as students compete for a chance to advance to the FIRST Championship in Houston, Texas, or one of 12 FIRST Premier Events.

“FIRST Robotics engages students in STEM through hands-on experiences that are both fun and exciting,” says Courtney Jones, director of the Kummer Center for STEM Education. 

FIRST Tech Challenge teams design, build and program robots to compete against other teams. Robots are built from a reusable platform, powered by android technology and are coded using Java-based programming.

This year, the FIRST Tech Challenge theme is DECODE, presented by RTX, where teams will investigate artifacts of the world.

“Every artifact we uncover holds a story,” according to the FIRST website. “Each tool, each innovation, each work of art connects us to the people and ideas that came before us. Using STEM skills and teamwork, today we can dig deeper into discoveries than ever before.”

Jones says during this challenge, students often learn complex concepts in STEM without even realizing it.

“The program also demonstrates how STEM intersects with disciplines traditionally considered non-STEM such as business, finance and community outreach,” Jones says.

The competition is free and open to spectators. The event will be livestreamed, and live scoring will be available online.

For more information, visit firstinmissouri.org.