Kentwood High School is half of a two-school robotics team that’s forming to enter a statewide student competition next March.

The team comprised of Kentwood and Auburn Mountainview High students plans to be among 57 high school teams competing in the FIRST Robotics competition, sponsored by Microsoft, at Key Arena in Seattle March 26-28.

Thirty to 40 students are needed for the Kentwood-Auburn Mountainview team, which will build a 120-pound robot. A grant from Boeing will help support the team.

Team members will work in groupson CAD design, fabrication, mechanical, drivetrain, electronics and communications.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded by inventor Dean Kamen in Manchester, N.H. as a non-profit organization to encourage students’ involvement in complex engineering and problem-solving. Nationally, its participants are more likely to attend college and major in science or engineering, and 550 scholarships valued at more than $9 million are available to them, according to FIRST.

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