Robotics

WEST VALLEY CITY — The Woods Cross High School robotics team members were all set to rumble with their robot Thursday morning when they arrived at the Maverik Center for the FIRST Robotics Utah Regional Competition.

Also participating in the event, scheduled through Saturday, are 43 other teams from nine states.

LAYTON -- Northridge High School is building a new stadium, and the competitors who will do battle there are still in the early construction phase.

Thanks to a $660,000 grant from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Educational Partnership, Northridge will have extra money for its engineering, science and math departments. A good chunk of the cash is going to the newly formed robotics class.

SYRACUSE -- In a world of spinning and speeding robots stacking rings on a goal post while trying to keep others from scoring, it is as if Syracuse High School's robot is actually connected to Tanner Nielson's hand.

At least that is how Justin Frost, the high school's adviser to the VEX robotics club, describes the scene.

"He places his rings, throws the other team's (rings) under the ladder, then does loops and spins and defends where he's supposed to be," Frost said. "He messes around and goofs around and he's so good at it. It's amazing to watch it."

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Discovery thundered into orbit for the final time Thursday, heading toward the International Space Station on a journey that marks the beginning of the end of the shuttle era.