Schools

Robotics 8-Ball Championships this Weekend

Oakland County schools, including Lake Orion High School, will participate in championship tournament.

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On Saturday, 22 robots and their human creators will battle it out in the 2015 Oakland County Robotics Association Championship Tournament.

The 120-pound robots will go head-to-head in an intense game of “8-Ball,” a robo-version of the popular billiards game, where the balls are 16 to 24 inches in diameter and have to be scored in six goal “pockets” that are more than 6 feet tall.

Matches will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Walled Lake Western High School, 600 Beck Road in Walled Lake, and continue throughout the day until the champions are crowned.

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The Oakland County Robotics Association is an association of 22 Oakland County high school robotics teams that have joined together to form a league where robots compete in an exciting sports-like game. Robots do not destroy each other, as in some robotic competitions; however, the robots play by some rough and tumble rules that occasionally lead to carnage.

Participating students had to put their science and technology skills to work to design and build robots for competitions and the championship tournament in keeping with the association’s goal to inspire students to pursue scientific and technological careers.

Find out what's happening in Oakland Township-Lake Orionfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Key supporters of the Oakland County Robotics Association are the DTE Energy Foundation, Chrysler, International America Inc., General Motors Powertrain, Festo, Denso and The Robot Space.

Teams from the following schools are participating in the tournament:

  • Avondale High School, Auburn Hills
  • Seaholm High School, Birmingham
  • Groves High School, Birmingham
  • Brother Rice High School, Bloomfield Hills
  • Marian High School, Bloomfield Hills
  • Detroit Catholic Central High School, Novi
  • International Academy East, Troy
  • Lake Orion High School, Lake Orion
  • Notre Dame Prep, Pontiac
  • Oakland Schools Technical Campus (Northeast in Pontiac and Southwest in Wixom)
  • St. Mary’s Prep, Orchard Lake
  • Our Lady of the Lakes, Waterford Township
  • Oxford High School, Oxford
  • Pontiac High School, Pontiac
  • Rochester Adams High School, Rochester Hills
  • Roeper School, Birmingham
  • University High School Academy of Southfield
  • Walled Lake Central, Walled Lake
  • Walled Lake Western, Walled Lake
  • Waterford Kettering, Waterford Township
  • Waterford Mott, Waterford Township
  • West Bloomfield High School, West Bloomfield Township

» Photos submitted by Oakland County Robotics Association

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