A team of area high schoolers will take their ball-playing robot to an East Coast regional competition this week, with funding and coaching supplied by Wilmington startup Wired Wizards.

Jazmin Capezza, owner of Wired Wizards and the team’s coach, said the team met its $20,000 fundraising goal, enabling it to compete in the NC FIRST Robotics Competition in Dorton Arena at the N.C. State Fairgrounds.

Participating in this year’s competition are 53 teams from several East Coast states and one from the Netherlands. The Wired Wizards team is made up of 10 students from Hoggard, Laney, New Hanover and Topsail high schools, plus three homeschooled students.

Capezza, a graduate student in computer science and information systems at University of North Carolina Wilmington, plans for her startup to grow beyond its early-stage digs at UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). Her goal is to build Wired Wizards into a sustainable business that will focus on recruiting and coaching more robotics teams in the area.

Currently, she said, Wired Wizards is not making a profit but raising enough money to cover the competitions.

This year, Capezza and her team met expenses through grants, gifts and a $100 per participant fee.

The two-day robotics competition that starts Friday will be Wired Wizards’ second visit to NC FIRST Robotics.

Wired Wizards retained eight members from its inaugural 2013 team, which came in second out of eight rookie squads and 19th overall out of 55 teams, Capezza said.
Capezza said that this year’s teams were charged with creating a robot that could play a game.

“The robots have to be able to pass a 2-foot exercise ball across a field and score goals, similar to basketball,” she said. “There are three robots on an alliance and six robots on the field at any time. They have to pick up the ball and get it to the goal. Extra points are awarded if they pass the ball to others and actually score a goal.”
 
Wired Wizards has already distinguished itself: the squad’s graphic designer, Hannah Wilson, designed the winning fifth anniversary logo that NC FIRST Robotics is using for this year’s competition, Capezza said.

Her plans for next year include expanding the team and participating in two events – which mean a more ambitious budget.

 “Based on having 15 students and attending two regional competitions, we would like to raise $30,000 for next year,” Capezza said.