HELENA — Two Helena robotics teams are heading to international and national competitions and need help getting there.
Team Nebula has qualified for the FIRST Tech Challenge European Premiere Event in the Netherlands on June 17. Team Fusion is heading to Houston for the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship on April 29.
Nebula’s rookie season was just four years ago, making its qualification for an international premier event an impressive feat for such a young team. Fusion will be competing in the World Championship for the fourth time in the past six years.
Qualifying for events like these is no small feat. Both teams practice at least once a week throughout a nearly year-round season. In addition to building and coding their robots, the teams give community presentations and conduct outreach to local businesses.
MTN reported on one of the qualifying events that took place in Helena in January. You can view that story here.
Team Nebula said the opportunity is a dream come true.
"My greatest goal in life. I want to really travel abroad, and this is a great start for me, to travel to these places, especially for doing stuff that I love, like engineering and robotics."
Fusion is equally eager to take on the challenge.
Although the teams will compete in different locations, they say they feel united in representing Montana.
"We're excited to go together and represent Montana on this world stage."
To ensure that all team members can participate in their competitions, both teams are looking for community members and businesses to sponsor their trips. Team Fusion has the goal to raise $35,000 dollars for the World Championship, while Team Nebula has to just about double that, at $60,000, to fly halfway across the globe to the Netherlands.
You can visit Team Nebula's website to learn more about the team and donate.
You can visit Team Fusion's website to learn more about the team and donate.
