SARASOTA — The sounds of whirring and whizzing rang around Braden River Middle School’s gymnasium walls as bot battles between man’s metal creations began.
Like watching a medieval battle inside Plexiglass rings, students competed in challenging obstacles with game controllers as their swords and personalized robots as their horses as spectators looked.
Robotics teams, 26 total hailing from Palm Harbor to Fort Myers, competed in the Gulf Coast League Robotics Championship on Jan. 27. It involved programmers, designers and builders aged 12 to 18 making up the 300 participants of the regional event.
The competition is part of the FIRST Tech Challenge 2023-24 season, with teams competing to advance to the state championships in March.
FTC is an international nonprofit focused on “inspiring the next generation of science and technology leaders in the workforce,” according to its website.
FIRST is divided into four main programs — FIRST LEGO League Explore, FIRST LEGO League Challenge, FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition — based on age and skill level. Each program allows for bigger robots and more complex concepts.