On Saturday, December 17, two FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) robotics teams from GEARS (Granger Robotics and Exploration Studio) competed in their first tournament of the season. The competition was held in Center Grove, Indiana and consisted of 30 teams from all around the state.
FIRST Tech Challenge teams can have up to 15 student members that are in 7th-12th grade. The season started on September 10th with a worldwide kick-off. Students must design, build and program custom robots to solve the game challenge. They also need to be an active part of the community by building relationships with professional engineers and introducing new students to the FIRST program. Finally, they must document all of their work in an organized Engineering Notebook. To learn more about the FIRST program visit www.firstinspires.org.
GEARS took two of their teams to the competition. Team 9789 – TOXIC was a member of the winning robot game alliance and they took the top honor of the day, the Inspire Award. Team 9790 – Vier Left earned the Inspire Award 2nd place and the Think Award. The awards they received reflect on the years of hard work that the students have put in to the robotics programs. Many of them have been involved in youth robotics for 7-9 years.
Both teams received invitations to the Indiana State Championship on February 25 in Crawfordsville. But prior to then, they will be competing in Griffith and Elkhart, Indiana as well as in Cincinnati, Ohio. Along with their busy competition schedule, they are constantly participating in outreach activities.
