Viking Robotics strives to promote teamwork, creative thinking, and gracious professionalism while engaging youth in fun all encompassing activities involving robots.

Our Team

Viking Robotics was founded in 2008 by Craig Nielsen, the engineering teacher at Ballard High School. Mr. Nielsen heard about FIRST from the Seattle School Districts vocational director who motivated him to start the program for the school and the Ballard community. Since its creation the team has allowed students to explore their interest in mechanics and technology. Many students also see it as a social gathering among like-minded people.

Ballard's history is closely tied to the Scandinavian roots of its population, which is the source of the viking theme in our team. Today, Ballard is a heterogeneous community that maintains a small town feel, especially in the residents pride and commitment to education. Ballard High School has earned a strong reputation for its academics and extracurricular programs, to which FIRST Robotics is a welcome addition. The key goal of the Viking Robotics team is to encourage students to get excited about engineering and technology. As excitement takes root, we hope more students will embrace engineering and technology studies in high school, university, and their careers.

Awards

At the 2011 Seattle Regional our team won the Imagery Award. This award celebrates attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration from the machine to team appearance. The judges praised our Viking themed pit design and clear team identity. Additionally, we have received awards from within our community. During the Norwegian Syttende Mai Parade in 2011 we won the award for best mechanical exhibit. To know that we were appreciated by the people we grew up with, and to know that they supported us fully was an exhilarating step forward for our team.

Leadership