The Senior Robotics Club of the Sewanhaka Central High School District, whose team name is the RoboPandas, participated in and won top awards at the FIRST Tech Challenge Regional Qualifying Tournament, which was held virtually between Jan. 10 and Jan. 16.
“FIRST Tech Challenge teams are tasked with designing, building, programming and operating robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format,” a statement released by the school district read. The students presented their work to a panel of judges, who assessed both the technical and non-technical aspects of the robots the team created.
The focus of this year’s challenge, called “Freight Frenzy” and presented by Raytheon Technologies, is the future of transportation. Teams and their robots scored points by loading and delivering items across a 12-by-eight foot field.
“For their technical prowess and professionalism, the RoboPandas earned the First Place Inspire Award, the First Place Top Ranked Award, the Second Place Think Award, the Second Place Connect Award, the Second Place Innovate Award, the Second Place Motivate Award, the Second Place Design Award and the Third Place Control Award,” the statement read.
