The best part of being a parent is getting to see your kids grow and take on some big challenges. Win or lose, it’s still fantastic to see your child compete and give it their all. My wife and I couldn’t be prouder of Jason and his Suffern Robotics team for moving on to the World Championships in Detroit next month.
What exactly is “robotics”? It’s the most gracious, science-based team “sport” you’ll ever see. As part of FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology), the Suffern High School Robotics Team competes against other schools in the region in some hi-tech robotic competition. Sadly, no, the robots don’t fight each other like Hugh Jackman’s toys did in Real Steel.
Instead, every year, FIRST puts together a specific challenge, with different actions resulting in different point values. The teams build their own robots from scratch using 3-D printers, metal cutting machinery, etc.
This year’s theme is Rover Ruckus. Each team’s robot needs to place different colored objects (“minerals”) into the correct slots in a “Mars Lander” and can earn extra points if they get their robot to pull itself up and hang from the lander. Each match is only a few minutes long, and alliances are formed throughout. That means it’s always a two-on-two battle for the most points.
Take a look at the First Tech Challenge video for Rover Ruckus if you want to see the full details:
However… besides the actual tournament itself, FIRST gives out a number of different awards at the end of the event. These awards celebrate a variety of achievements from the teams including community outreach, documentation (a detailed notebook of the team’s progress) and the powerful Inspire Award which encompasses a variety of things that best exemplify FIRST’s gracious, collaborative approach.
The winner of the Inspire Award also qualifies and moves on to Worlds. While Suffern didn’t win it… they did take home 2nd place for the Inspire Award… and that was enough to move them on to the World Championships in Detroit!
That last match at Pace University was such a rollercoaster of a day with the robot not cooperating and the kids being so incredibly deflated by the end. They had worked so hard to get this far, it was devastating to not move on. But when they were announced as the 2nd place winners for Inspire, they realized they were moving on, and tears of sorrow quickly turned into exhausting tears of joy.
I could not be prouder of Jason and the entire Suffern Robotics Team. It may seem like just a “silly robot thing,” but the Robotics Club is a massive time commitment. The week before a tournament, the teams are practicing and prepping the robot every single day until the evening. Friday nights often go until midnight and then the team needs to be at the school by 6 am the next day to travel for the event. They all do their part individually and together to make the best robot they can, as well as the best-looking pit area and presentations for the judges.
I shouldn’t be surprised Jason is so into robotics these days. He has always wanted to be a video game programmer since he was little and even was a keynote speaker at MIT when he was just 9 years old, showing off his project in Scratch. It’s been amazing watching him and the whole team grow and come together as a solid unit.
The FIRST Tech Challenge World Championships are in Detroit from April 24-28 and the Suffern Robotics Team are proudly representing New York’s Hudson Valley region. Only 160 teams are competing in the event out of more than 10,000 competitors worldwide. It’s seriously impressive just to get this far!
Now the team is prepping for the big day, but they’re also looking to raise money to help offset some of the travel costs to the World Championships. While the school provides bus transportation to and from the airport… that’s it. Everything else (airfare, hotels, meals, transportation) falls to the Suffern Robotics Team members themselves.
They’re doing a number of local fundraisers in the community but they’ve also set up a Go Fund Me page with a goal of $12,000 to cover those expenses for all the kids and coaches.
I don’t normally ask for much here on my blog, but if you could donate anything at all, it would go a very long way towards helping a smart, passionate, inspirational group of kids make their way to the ultimate stage to show off their hard work.
FIRST Tech Challenge is not about winning. It’s all about being gracious and helpful not just to the members of your own team, but to all teams competing. I’ve honestly never seen such… well, teamwork and pure selfless sharing within a sport or organization.
I’m incredibly proud of the Suffern Robotics Team and wish them all the best of luck in Detroit next month!
Go Fund Me: Support Suffern Robotics
This looks like awesome event. Wishing the team best of luck. Sure you guys going win.
That is so cool! Here’s wishing the team the best of luck. Bring home the bacon awesome kids!
Congratulations! What a huge accomplishment. This sounds like such an amazing experience.
I think it’s so great that kids are getting into robotics these days. What great opportunities for them to get hands on experience building and coding!!
This is spectacular! I think it’s great to get kids involved early in S.T.E.M. and robotics is a great way to start with that – congratulations to your son and I’m crossing my fingers that they do great! 🙂
Thank you so much, Elisha!
I love to see young adults and kids getting into robotics. My middle daughter hopes to build one, one day.
I’m so impressed by what these kids were able to create!! Go Suffern!!
What a great opportunity for them. I can’t wait to hear how they do at the world championships.
What exciting news for Jason and his team! Congratulations!
This is so amazing!! What a great program!!
What an absolutely amazing sounding event! These kids really sound incredible, making all those robotics themselves. Just WOW!
Damn that’s awesome. I wish I had a program like that when I was younger.
So do I! It’s really unbelievable what they do. From physically making the robot to actually programming the whole thing in java!
What an awesome honor! Good luck at championships!
Go Jason and team!! You’re a proud Dad, as you should be! The kids are so super smart and creative!!
That is awesome! I only WISH I were ever smart enough to do something like that. Just make sure he doesn’t help create an army of killer robots, please. Good luck to him!
That’s an awesome “sport” to get young minds into. What an awesome competition! Best of luck at the championships!
These are some amazing feats of ingenuity. A great way to encourage kids to build and to use their minds’ potential.
This looks fun my sons classmmates won for their region. I asked my son why he didn’t join he said he should have it looked fun
It was fun to see your son’s group. My husband was a middle school principal and he was one of the first to have a robotics class in our area. IT was great fun for the kids.
I think that probiotic should be a part of school from the beginning. This generation of kids needs to know how to do everything in the technology world just to make it. Something like this would be awesome. It looks like they had such a good time.
So neat! My daughter always loves to build stuff, so she’d be a fan of this. I am always amazed at what people can put together.
Congrats to your son and the entire Suffern Robotics team for making it to the World Championship team. I’ve never seen a robotics competition before and this would be so much fun to watch.
Oh wow! That sounds incredible and so fun too. I’ve never seen anything like it!
This is amazing! Can’t wait to go and see what Suffern can do!
Me too!!!!
I love everything about this post! I’ve been watching your social pages and seeing all of the amazing events you all attend for robotics. I am in awe of the opportunities that the kids in this day have. Wishing the team the best of luck!
Aw, thank you, Shelly! Really appreciate that! These kids really are amazing and have such wonderful opportunities as you put it!