Johnston County all-girls robotics team among 6 from central NC headed to world championship

G-Force Robotics team from Johnston County (Shannon Mann)

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Six teams from our area are competing against other countries in a robotics world championship.

The 2024 FIRST Championship is being held in Houston, Texas Wednesday through Saturday.

The following teams across Wake, Orange, and Johnston counties are competing:

• G-Force, Clayton
• RoboEagles, Raleigh
• Slice, Fuquay-Varina
• TerrorBytes, RTP
• EastBots, Chapel Hill
• Carrborobotics, Carrboro 

G-Force Robotics is an all-girls team from Johnston County that looks to inspire young minds.

“All the work we’ve put in these past two years has led to this competition and this one event,” said team member Allie Williams.

The team is competing in the FIRST Championship for the second year in a row, after coming out on top for the Rookie All Star Award last year.

This year, they’re competing for the Engineer Inspiration Award.

“Everybody started at a base level and now here we are two years later,” said team member Allison Vanater. “Everyone contributes to this team so much.”

“It’s really really difficult to even make it one year, so to see these girls make it two years, that is a goal they set for themselves,” said Shannon Mann, one of the team’s coaches.

At the competition, they’ll use a 123 pound, industrial-sized robot to compete against teams from 28 other countries.

“We named it Hellcat after the Navy Fighter Pilot,” Williams said. “The Navy Fighter Pilot is multipurpose. Our robot is small and agile but it also competes in every part of the game.”

The 2024 First Championship starts Wednesday and ends Saturday.

As they boarded their flight Tuesday with high hopes to win, the team says the most rewarding part is setting an example.

“Our team being able to do things like this and having this opportunity is a really good thing for other young girls to look at and see other young girls succeeding, knowing that they can do it when they get our age as well,” Vanater said.

Other North Carolina groups competing in the championship are from Greensboro, Greenville, Mooresville, Forest City, Asheville, Hickory and Charlotte.

Click here to learn more about the 2024 FIRST Championship.