New Hartford, NY – The RoboSpartans FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics team arrived home from the East Super Regional at the University of Scranton with an invitation to the prestigious FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, April 27-30, 2016. The 4-day competition will host 128 teams from the U.S. and 11 countries. Approximately 2.5 percent of United States FTC teams are invited to St. Louis. The RoboSpartans were the only Central New York team chosen to attend the event this year.
In Scranton, the RoboSpartans won the Think Award, qualifying them as 7th out of the 24 top East Coast teams advancing to World-class competition next month. The judges noted their attention to detail in describing all aspects of their team’s activities in their Engineering Notebook along with their use stress analysis testing on parts created for their robot, Laconicus. The RoboSpartans earned 6th place ranking after 9 qualifying matches in their division. They were chosen to play in the division semi-finals by 4th ranked i2r Robotics of Westport, CT.
For the 2015-2016 season, the RoboSpartans logged over 1,200 hours of community outreach, assisting in the formation of new teams, demonstrating their robot, promoting FIRST, and sharing with teams Worldwide. Through their FTC TEC Network Google Community, the RoboSpartans promote peer-to-peer learning and the growth of their sport. Their Network Community currently facilitates information sharing by over 160 FTC team members from 35 States and 8 countries. Hangout discussions help teams get to know each other as they chat weekly about robot building, programming and tournament strategy.
The RoboSpartans team is run as an independent after-school program out of their coach’s basement in New Hartford. Team members are from Utica and New Hartford schools along with homeschooled students. The team operates through the generosity of their fiscal agent and supporter, the Griffiss Institute of Rome, NY and with the assistance of business sponsors.
For information on how to support these great area students as they represent New York State at the World Championship, contact the team coaches at RoboSpartans4082@gmail.com.