30 Mar 2025 Robots activate!
By Mark Oliver
In March, Searcy Public Schools hosted the 2025 Arkansas Regional Robotics Tournament, presented by FIRST® Robotics Competition. Participants competed for invitations to the upcoming World Championship tournament that will take place this April in Houston, Texas.
Each year, prior to the regional competition, teams receive a kit of parts and are given eight weeks to design, program and build multitasking robots which compete head-to-head in an action-packed game. This year’s game challenged robots to pick up, lift and place rubber balls, as well as to manipulate cylindrical objects and place them upon structures and grasp an airborne object to lift and hold it completely off the floor.
Spanning two days, the annual tournament randomly placed participating teams into three-team alliances. Over the course of 12 matches, final alliances were chosen via a selection process, resulting in a single-elimination bracket to determine which teams moved on to the final round.
At the conclusion of the tournament, two teams qualified for the World Championship from the competition itself, while two additional teams advanced based on two judges’ awards: the Engineering Inspiration Award and the FIRST® Impact Award.
“Simply put, this tournament is wonderful, glorious mayhem,” FIRST® Robotics Regional Director of Arkansas Tod Traughber said. “However, robotics is so much more than just robots. The team that I mentor, Breakaway, has 30 members broken into two groups: a build unit that focuses on design, programming, assembly, electronics and data analytics, and a business unit that handles event management, public relations and multimedia production and marketing. No matter which role a team member holds, every job is considered valuable to the overall success of the robot.”
In addition to its third-place overall finish in the tournament, Breakaway received the FIRST® Impact Award for exceptional public relations as well as for the team’s influence and expansion of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in Central Arkansas over the past decade, qualifying the team for April’s World Championship event.
“When our public relations team received the FIRST® Impact Award, the tears that flowed down our faces were the same as if we had won the main competition with our robot,” Traughber said. “To be recognized for the hard work our public relations team puts in, along with the sense of pride we have for our team, is beyond compare.”
Arkansas has hosted regional robotics tournaments since 2013. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was relocated from Little Rock to Searcy, where it has thrived in recent years.
“Searcy is centrally located, with great resources,” Traughber said. “Most importantly, the community wants it. Over the past two years, Searcy Public Schools has gone above and beyond for us by not only allowing us to use their unbelievable facility, Lion Arena, but also helping us with volunteerism. They love what this event does for our community, and they understand the inspirational power these events have on our youth. They are all in.”
Fueled by nearly 90 volunteers from Searcy High School, Arkansas’s Army National Guard and Little Rock Air Force Base, the Arkansas Regional Robotics Tournament shines brightly as one of the region’s top STEM experiences.
“Witnessing the constant state of awe on the faces of our out-of-state competitors as well as our local teams throughout the tournament was incredible,” Traughber said. “Many mentors approached me and told me they had not seen a better-run regional. From our top-notch facilities to the heart and soul of the volunteers running this event, I could not be more pleased with this event each year.”
While Arkansas may be considered underrepresented in comparison to similar-sized states, Traughber believes in a bright future for STEM and is committed to growing participation throughout not only the 501, but all of Arkansas.
“Our ultimate goal with this event is to bring awareness to STEM and challenge our communities to support similar events for the growth of all of Arkansas,” Traughber said. “Through these programs and events, our great industries in Arkansas have an opportunity to actively train their next employees from the high school level. Additionally, competing against top-tier teams allows our kids to see what is possible. When they see what is possible, they shoot to achieve the impossible by going above and beyond what they see.”
For 36 years, FIRST® Robotics Competition has empowered young innovators through life-changing robotics programs that build confidence, skills and a brighter future. Through competition, their goal is for students to work side-by-side with field experts to either prepare them for the STEM-related workforce after high school or to inspire them to go to college in pursuit of STEM-related or STEM-adjacent fields. To learn more about FIRST® Robotics Competition, or to become involved in robotics for youth in your area, visit firstinspires.org.
Another big feature of the regional event is Tinkerfest, which features multiple STEM booths from Little Rock’s Museum of Discovery. Through local community funding, the Museum of Discovery provided hands-on learning to 525 elementary school students from nine area schools during the tournament. In addition to having front-row seats to the robotics competition, students were also given tours of the pit, where they met the robots and their respective team members. This interaction aims to inspire kids to join local robotics teams or to start teams at their schools, furthering the growth and expansion of robotics throughout Arkansas.
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