They were one of two teams representing the UK at the First Tech Challenge in Detroit, the world’s largest student robotics competition.
30,000 students competed for the title and St Chris won the World Championship Judges Award!
The award is given to the team the judges decide deserve recognition for their hard work, robot, outreach, positive team dynamics and overall show First’s core values in all aspects of their work, and is the equivalent of second place. The organisers commented on how unusual it was for a rookie team to win the award.
They also won the World’s Friendliest Team Award!
FIRST® Tech Challenge is a robotics programme for children aged 12-18, seeking to build relationships between today’s professionals and tomorrow’s talent.
Working in teams of up to 15, and supported by an industry mentor, young people design, build and programme a robot to compete in the annual championships.
Team members assume individual and collaborative roles reflective of real-life careers – from software engineers and designers, to project managers and communications officers – all play a part in becoming competition-ready.
A representative from FIRST Robotics said: “We call the FIRST Robotics Competition the ultimate sport for the mind. It combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get.”
A huge thank you to the team’s sponsors for the event – especially to main sponsor Arm; to Programmers on Call and HSM Aero who provided mentorship and financial support; and to Voodoo Park and New Relic for providing the giveaways that helped the team network at the event.
Congratulations to the Snowflakes!
