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St. Paul Central students head to national robotics competition

St. Paul Central Minutebots robotic team
The St. Paul Central Minutebots robotic team at the 2014 regional competition.
Courtesy of St. Paul Public Schools

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Sixteen teams from Minnesota are joining thousands of high school students from 38 countries in St. Louis today for a national robotics competition.

The robotics section is one of three going simultaneously at the U.S. FIRST -- For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology -- event. The students will be using their robots to try to win points.

"This year, larger robots on fields half the size of basketball courts will battle it out by maneuvering exercise balls into goal areas," writes Elisa Crouch for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Smaller robots will compete by putting as many blocks as possible into plastic crates on top of pendulums."

This is the first time the Minutebots team from Central High School in St. Paul made it to nationals. The team coach and two student members joined The Daily Circuit ahead of the competition. They were on a bus on their way to St. Louis.

The team went from five active students last year in its first year of competition to up to 18 students this year, said coach Jon Lavik.

The team is primarily underclassmen, Lavik said, so their future is bright.

"We are aiming for a dynasty here," he said. "We've got some really good kids on the team... We're going to have a good run ahead of us."

St. Paul Central team highlights from regionals: