St. Paul's middle school team, the CyBirds, is comprised of students in 6-8 grades. They participate in the FIRST Tech Challenge (team #26538), and are part of the Michigan South Central Robotics League.
The middle school team was formed in fall of 2024, and has accomplished a lot already their first season -- from learning to code to building a starter bot, opportunities to innovate have been prolific for the CyBirds. The robot must be able to score points in competition and achieve certain tasks -- both autonomous and teleop modes (robot-controlled and user-controlled). Code is written in blocks, or using java, and the students are responsible for developing a game strategy as well.
After a successful season at the elementary level, we added a middle school robotics team, the SPAA CyBirds. As with the elementary program, students continue to learn about STEM, coding, and engineering -- but on a more involved and complex level (learn more about FIRST and FIRST Michigan).
As part of FIRST Tech Challenge, each team gets a unique number. The SPAA CyBirds' team number is #26538. Our team's participation stats and information can be found on the FIRST team profile page.
The Michigan South Central Robotics League includes teams from various schools in Washtenaw, Jackson, Eaton and Ingham counties. As part of the league, teams typically have the chance to play 1 scrimmage, 3 Meets and a League Tournament (similar to a Qualifier) each season.
This is SPAA's first season participating in MSCRL, and we're excited!