The Mountlake Terrace High School FIRST Robotics Competition team 1778 (Chill Out), with students from across the Edmonds School District, has qualified for the third straight year to compete in the FIRST Championships April 16-19 in Houston, Texas. Chill Out will take their robot, “SubZero,” to join 600 teams from around the world, continuing their best season in team history, the team said in a news release.

This season, Chill Out has earned two District Event Winner blue banners, the Innovation in Control Award, the Autonomous Award and District Championship Finalist. They have a record of 46-7-0 and are ranked 14th worldwide out of almost 3,700 teams. They will be competing alongside 22 other Pacific Northwest teams also headed to Houston, including neighboring teams Royal Robotics 2522, Jack in the Bot 2910, Sonic Squirrels 2930 and Arrowdynamics 10079.

The team was recently featured on The Newsfeed with Cascade PBS, highlighting the students’ work. The team creates a new robot every year to meet the FIRST game challenge – including design, strategy, manufacturing, programming and testing. Along with robot engineering, the students run a business, including community STEM outreach, marketing, fundraising, graphic design and public speaking.

Visit the Chill Out website to see how you can get involved or sponsor the team. To find a team in your area, visit FIRST Robotics Competition and see this year’s game.