Palouse area Sciborgs to St. Louis

Fourteen members of the the Palouse area Sciborgs high school robotics team departed for Houston Tuesday to compete in the world championships. The Sciborgs finished 23rd among 155 northwest teams for the 2017 overall season which concluded April 6-8 in Cheney at the Pacific Northwest District Championships.

The team now advances to the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology championships in Houston. They will complete among 400 teams. Another 400 teams will compete in St. Louis.

The top four teams from Houston and St. Louis will advance to the Festival of Champions in Manchester, N.H., in July.

Four mentors traveling with them are Steve Warneke of Schweitzer Engineering, Aaron and Helena Johnson of Colfax and WSU professor Doug Call.

Federal Express will pay the cost of shipping the team's robot to Houston.

Garfield/Palouse's Vikotics team finished 32nd for the year in the northwest district, but will not travel to Houston. The team and mentors made the decision before the season in order to build up funding for the future.

“The sustainability of the program is more important right now than taking another trip,” said Mark Sawyer, ag instructor at Gar/Pal and lead mentor for the Vikotics.

The team competed at the world championships in St. Louis last year in its first season.