By Morgan Kindermann
Leader Contributor
Oxford High School’s FIRST robotics competition team, Team 2137 The Oxford RoboCats, competed last weekend April 3-5 at the FIRST in Michigan State Championship, and are now heading to the FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston, Texas.

The FIRST state championship comprises 160 teams across four fields, and the Robocats were in the Aptiv division. Out of 40 teams that competed on the Aptiv division field, Team 2137 placed third in qualifying matches and during alliance selection were the captains of the #3 alliance and picked Team 3604, Goon Squad, from Brownstown.
Both teams chose Team 7790, Baywatch Robotics, from Harbor Springs to compete with them in their alliance. The alliance did great in this highly competitive competition, but were knocked out during the semifinals.
The team, according to statbotics.io, is the 10th out of 525 teams in the state, and 89th out of 3,690 teams in the world based on their robot’s performance.
Thanks to the team’s amazing performance all season winning their first event, making finals at their second event, and making third after qualification at the highly competitive state championship, the Team is off to the FIRST Robotics World Championship. There, they will compete against the top 600 robotics teams from around the world to see who will come out on top.
The Oxford RoboCats next competition will be at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas April 16-19.
To track the team’s success, follow them on Facebook and Instagram, as well as www.team2137.com.
Morgan Kindermann is an Oxford Leader contributing writer and member of The Oxford RoboCats robotics team.