Robotics Teams Compete for Ticket to International Competition
Published: March 14, 2023 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Robotics teams from Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico gathered at Southern Utah University on March 11, 2023, to compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Utah Championship. After a day of judging and competitive gameplay, two teams were awarded advancement tickets to compete in the international FIRST World Festival next month.
The Masters of Pleasant Grove, Utah, earned the coveted Inspire Award, which required them to perform well in design, innovation, programming, outreach, engineering portfolio, business networking, and the Robot Game. The Masters also became Winning Alliance Captain after working with two alliance teams to win the Robot Game. Team Without a Cool Acronym (T.W.C.A.) of Hurricane, Utah, earned 2nd Place Inspire. These top placements qualified the teams to compete against teams from six continents in Houston, Texas, in April.
FTC is a global robotics competition for youth in the 7th to 12th grades. In addition to teaching teens the intricacies of engineering and computer science, the program builds team member skills in professional soft skills including communication, cooperation, time management, conflict resolution, and creative problem-solving.
“This championship is just the beginning for these students. Most will pursue careers in engineering, computer science, and mathematics. Others will choose business or medicine. Their contributions to society will last much longer than this season’s accolades,” stated Laurel Dodgion, SUU College of the Engineering & Computational Sciences Academic Enhancement Coordinator and FTC Utah Program Delivery Partner. “There is a saying in FIRST, 'this is a sport where everyone can play and everyone can go pro at the end of their schooling.’ That is why SUU is the Program Delivery Organization for FTC Utah. We know these students are capable of ‘going pro’ and we want to help them get there.
While The Masters and T.W.C.A. received top honors at this season’s championship, several other prestigious awards were also presented to the following teams:
|
Award |
Team |
Home Town |
|
Think (Engineering Portfolio) |
Mecha Knights |
Provo, Utah |
|
Connect (Business Networking) |
Black Ops |
Hurricane, Utah |
|
Innovate (Creative Engineering Design) |
ENIGMA |
Albuquerque, New Mexico |
|
Control (Programming) |
S.O.U.P. |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
|
Motivate (K12 & Community Outreach) |
T.W.C.A. |
Hurricane, Utah |
|
Design (Engineering) |
Toaster Medics |
Midvale, Utah |
|
Winning Alliance Team |
Robominers |
Park City, Utah |
|
Winning Alliance Team |
Cubed ETs |
Taylorsville, Utah |
|
Finalist Alliance Captain (2nd Place Robot Game) |
Calamity |
Park City, Utah |
|
Finalist Alliance Team |
ENIGMA |
Albuquerque, New Mexico |
|
Finalist Alliance Team |
T.W.C.A. |
Hurricane, Utah |
Learn more FTC Utah at SUU and how to get involved.
Tags: College of Engineering and Computational Sciences Engineering STEM Center