[ad_1]

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – Earlier this month, Team “Tech Storm” defeated 35 other teams from across New England to win the FIRST Robotics New England District Competition in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It’s just the second time ever the school has won a district event.

“Our last match, when we finished, our points were under review, so we were holding our breath,” Senor, Luke McCarthy said. “Then it was announced and it was a little bit of a blur after that, but we kind of lost it for a bit, but it was great.”

In January, the robotics teams receive their mission. This year’s challenge is for the teams to build a robot that can pick up and deliver as much cargo to its pod as possible, before settling on a platform. Once the mission is received, the students have six weeks to assemble their robot for the competition. A week before each competition, the teams only get six hours to make changes and tweaks to their robot.

“It makes it a lot easier to overcome some of the hurdles we go through to get ready for our next couple of competitions, knowing we have the momentum,” Senior, Jack Luna said. “We have a better sense of what it takes to perform well in one of these just from having won it. Now there’s a real sense that we can do some real cool things.”

Some of these students will go on to purse a career in engineering. Even the ones who don’t say they have learned plenty from this experience, which should help them in the future.

“A big part about FIRST Robitics is that it’s not just about the robots. It’s learning how to work with a group, understanding the skills, the fabrication and design of something as well as the business aspect,” McCarthy said.

The next competition goes from Thursday to Saturday in Lewiston, Maine. Another good showing from Tech Storm could put the St. J Students in line for a spot at the District Championship.

[ad_2]

Source link