David Perry Is Running Oregon’s Top Robot Contest. He Could Use a Little Help.

It’s exactly what it sounds like: an annual contest for Oregon students to build robots that complete tasks. But of course it’s more than that.

Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program. (Courtesy of ORTOP)

WW presents "Distant Voices," a daily video interview for the era of social distancing. Our reporters are asking Portlanders what they're doing during quarantine.

David Perry is used to people comparing his nonprofit to BattleBots.

"I always say that this is a little bit more like basketball than boxing," Perry says. "It's more of a finesse game that these robots are playing. We don't have flamethrowers."

Perry's organization is called Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program—ORTOP, for short. It's exactly what it sounds like: an annual contest for Oregon students to build robots that complete tasks.

But of course it's more than that. It's science, technology, engineering and math training that fills in the gaps for school districts, and it's a lesson in teamwork for kids who may soon join the brain trust at Intel and other giants of the Silicon Forest.

ORTOP needs your help.

It is one of 174 nonprofits featured in WW's Give!Guide. On Nov. 24, Give!Guide broke a house record by raising $1 million for Portland-area nonprofits quicker than in any other year in its history. Last year, that benchmark was reached Dec. 3, a full week further into the campaign.

Give!Guide aims to raise $5 million by Dec. 31, 2020, with all funds to be distributed to the 174 participating nonprofits. Donate at giveguide.org.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.