Robots will roll into Sacramento City Unified School District’s Board of Education meeting Thursday (April 7), but don’t worry, Will Robinson – there is no danger.

The robots are the handiwork of high school students who constructed them from scratch to battle it out with other ‘bots at last month’s prestigious FIRST Robotics Sacramento Regional Tournament at UC Davis.

The kids and their mentors will be recognized for their achievements at the meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Serna Center, 5735 47th Ave. One robot will “hand” a certificate to Board President Gustavo Arroyo.

The challenge for this year’s event was LocoMotion. Teams were required to build a robot that could pick up inflatable rings and place them on pegs that were 10 feet high. Robots could score more points by moving autonomously and deploying a mini-bot that would climb a 10 foot pole in less than 15 seconds.

This was the first year SCUSD had four teams – Hiram Johnson Wire Freaks, Kennedy Robotics, the SEStematic Exterminators from the School of Engineering and Sciences and the McClatchy Reavers – competing at the FIRST Robotics event. Of the 53 teams in the competition, Kennedy Robotics achieved a top 10 finish coming in ninth.

Kennedy Robotics also won the event Industrial Safety award. This prestigious award is presented to the team that exhibits the highest level of safety in the pits and on the field. All the students on the Kennedy were first aid and CPR certified. They were also OSHA safety certified.

“We are proud of our students and their mentors that worked so hard to gain these fantastic 21st century job skills through robotics,” said Superintendent Jonathan Raymond. “I am thrilled to have such a great program at SCUSD.”