New Hartford – Excelsior Region Robotics Champions, the RoboSpartans, are spending the next few days perfecting their robot and fundraising to prepare their team for the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) East Super Regional Championship, a 3-day event at the University of Scranton, where 72 of the top teams in the Northeast compete for 24 spots at the World Championship in St. Louis. This will be the RoboSpartans’ 3rd season participating at the Super Regional Level. In January, the team won the Inspire Award at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, securing their spot at the Scranton event and placing them as one of the 12 teams to win the prestigious honor at the Championship level from Maine to Virginia. The team rounded out their regular season by traveling to the University of Vermont last weekend to gain additional field experience before heading to Pennsylvania. In Vermont, the team was honored with the Control Award and Finalist Alliance trophies, rounding out their regular season with an impressive 9 awards. In Scranton, the team will be joined by several Upstate New York teams including long-time friends, the MohonBots from Schenectady, previously mentored teams, the Robovines of Ballston Spa and Geared Up of Rome, along with the Enderbots & Gorrillabots from Corning, NY.
The RoboSpartans are a community-based robotics team, with members from New Hartford, Utica school districts. The Championship team is supported by local and national organizations including their generous fiscal agent, the Griffiss Institute of Rome. More information on the RoboSpartans can be obtained through the website, www.RoboSpartans.org, or their Facebook and Twitter accounts.