On Saturday, February 4th, 22 teams of students in grades 7-12 gathered at the 91˛Öżâ Student Center for a FIRST Tech Challenge event, hosted by FIRST Robotics and the College of Aeronautics and Engineering. As part of a FIRST Tech Challenge team, participants design, build, and operate a robot to complete specific tasks depending on the competition year. Students gain valuable experience in coding, problem solving, and the engineering process, in addition to building teamwork skills.
The competition doesn’t only include driving the robots in the game arena. On Friday, February 3rd, teams checked in their robots and each project underwent an inspection to ensure that projects met FIRST specifications and requirements. On Saturday morning, teams also met with judges to present their project portfolios and show off their projects. After passing inspection and completing their presentation, teams were able to practice with their robots in one of the available practice fields in the Ballroom Balcony before competing on the Ballroom floor.
Awards and Honors
Winning Alliance - Unsafe At Any Speed (Canal Winchester, OH) and US Robotics (Cleveland, OH)
Finalist Alliance - 24 Karat (Kent, OH) and NDCL Robotics (Chardon, OH)
Inspire Award - Electric Hornets (Kirtland, OH)
The Inspire Award is given to the team that stands out to judges as a role model team, and as a contender for many other awards throughout the competition. This team embodies the FIRST value of Gracious Professionalism.
Think Award - Cloverleaf Robotics (Lodi, OH)
The Think Award is given to the team that shows how they solved problems throughout their project with creative thinking. This is demonstrated by the engineering content in their portfolio presentations.
Connect Award - NDCL Robotics (Chardon, OH)
The Connect Award is given to the team that makes many connections to STEM within their local community, as well as makes connections between FIRST and the engineering career field.
Innovate Award, sponsored by Raytheon Technologies - Centipede (Solon, OH)
The Innovate Award is given to the team that uses innovative strategies and solutions to complete their project, as demonstrated by their portfolio presentation.
Control Award, sponsored by Arm, Inc. - 8 to Automate FTC (Dublin, OH)
The Control Award is given to the team that uses a variety of sensors and software programs to increase their robot’s control and adaptability in the competition field. This is demonstrated by both their robot’s performance and portfolio presentations.
Motivate Award - RoboVikes (Leavittsburg, OH)
The Motivate Award is given to the team that best promotes FIRST competitions and involvement within the organization in their schools and communities.
Design Award - Team Calamari (Westerville, OH)
The Design Award is given to the team whose design is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. This design must be both durable and efficient in addition to sleek or decorative.
Promote Award - Cloverleaf Robotics (Lodi, OH)
The Promote Award is given to the team whose video submission best addresses the season’s PSA subject celebrating STEM.
Compass Award - Ædificatores (Kent, OH)
The Compass Award is given to a team’s coach or mentor that shows extraordinary commitment and guidance to a team throughout the season.
Judges’ Choice Award - Unsafe At Any Speed (Canal Winchester, OH)
The Judges’ Choice Award is a flexible award to properly recognize teams whose efforts may not fit into or be adequately described by existing award categories.
Students that participate in FIRST Robotics competitions take valuable life lessons with them into their further education and careers. Mechatronics Engineering Student Michael Hoogasian volunteered at the event helping to reset playing fields, saying “FIRST was a terrific experience and opportunity for me in highschool, and it's a wonderful feeling to know that I can help give others that same experience, too.” Hoogasian also credits his experience in FIRST Robotics for preparing him for a challenging engineering degree program, adding “It helped me to discover that I have a passion for engineering, and drove home the importance of trying again until you succeed. Competing on a FIRST team also helped set me up for success by providing me with hands-on experience solving engineering problems, serving as a backdrop to the academic material taught in the classroom”.
In addition to the 91˛Öżâ Qualifier, the College of Aeronautics and Engineering also hosted a FIRST LEGO League Explore event on Saturday morning. Eight teams of 2nd - 4th graders presented their projects to judges before attending a variety of STEM themed activities for the remainder of the morning. Teams used LEGO pieces and LEGO Education robots to create a project, presenting a poster alongside this as part of their competition. Students learn the basics of the engineering process from a young age, setting them up for future success. When not presenting, students learned about aerospace engineering, chemistry, and the science of sound through STEM themed activities facilitated by volunteers.
The entire event was made possible by an amazing team of volunteers, including members of 91˛Öżâ’s Combat Robotics Team, parents, and College of Aeronautics and Engineering staff, students, and faculty.