Robotics World Championships

Last week, I was in St. Louis because the robotics team qualified for the world championships. It was an amazing experience and it was absolutely enormous. Over 600 teams and 40,000 people convened on St. Louis for 4 days. The event filled the St. Louis NFL stadium, the Edward Jones Dome and the giant convention center connected to it as well as some nearby hotels. It took 30 minutes to walk from one side of the event to the other. Teams were there from all over the country and the world, including many from China, Australia, and Israel. It was very cool to be able to walk around and see so many amazing robots and talk to so many interesting teams. It was especially cool to watch the final rounds of the playoffs and see the world champions crowned. The other thing that amazed me is that the competition was not just contained to the arena. For the four days it was going on it was the focus of most of St. Louis. Everyone in the city from taxi drivers to security guards at the arch knew it was going on and everywhere we went, we saw tons of other teams. Overall, it was an amazing experience.