By Richard Bammer
If they had created a talking R2-D2, the silvery fireplug-sized, whirring, beeping, hyperactive bot of “Star Wars” fame, Vacaville-area robotics squads would have the droid singing high praises about how well the teams fared Saturday at the FIRST Sacramento Regional competition in Davis.By noon, after more than a days worth of matches (including Fridays), the Vacaville High RoboDogs were in fourth place out of 55 teams, the Vanden High RoboVikes in fifth, and the first-year team from Buckingham Charter High, the Robo-Knights, in 39th.
For the Dogs and Vikes, their places were familiar territory, and they maintained them well into the finals, which ended in the late afternoon. The Vacaville team traveled to the high school world championships last year, and the Vanden squad, the mother of all Solano County robotics teams, is looking forward to its sixth visit to the world championships after recently placing second at the Central Valley Regional in Madera.