• Home
  • Posts
  • Fourth Annual Gator Bowl Qualifier Held Last Weekend

Fourth Annual Gator Bowl Qualifier Held Last Weekend

robotics1-1-27
The Greenwich High School team works on their robot during the fourth annual Gator Bowl Connecticut State Qualifier, held at Greenwich Academy. (John Ferris Robben photo)
The Greenwich High School team works on their robot during the fourth annual Gator Bowl Connecticut State Qualifier, held at Greenwich Academy. (John Ferris Robben photo)

By Michelle Moskowitz
Sentinel Correspondent

The fourth annual Gator Bowl Connecticut State Qualifier, a FIRST Tech Challenge, held at Greenwich Academy last weekend, resulted in outstanding robotic innovation, team work and much enthusiasm for all participants and parents alike.

The all-day event, for seventh to 12th graders, provides students with the opportunity to learn and foster their passion for engineering, programming, innovation, and creativity.

A total of 19 teams took part in the event by putting their robots to the test and were challenged to complete a multitude of tasks.

Teams were judged based on the number of matches they won, the design schema of their robot, and the group’s ability to work as a successful, cohesive team.

Participating teams are formed through either part of the curriculum of a school (or as an after-school club), community center, local library, or even as a group of friends (known as garage or basement teams).

The 2017 Gator Bowl. (John Ferris Robben photo)
The 2017 Gator Bowl. (John Ferris Robben photo)

The Gator Bowl was held on the campus of Greenwich Academy, but the school’s house team, RoboEpic, did not compete, as is customary when hosting the event; instead the team was charged with running the event as volunteers.

The girls had the opportunity to assist many technical aspects of the robots on the field as well as work closely with the score trackers and timers.

“This was a great experience for them to volunteer, as they really got to see how the events are run from another perspective, and they really enjoyed interacting with the other volunteers and teams,” said Gail Sestito, co-director of robotics at Greenwich Academy.

The winner of the Gator Bowl was Singularity Technology, a community team from Wilton Library.

In Greenwich there are three teams.

Greenwich High School, the only Greenwich team to participate in the event, is fairly new on the scene, and has recently added a lot of new members.

They placed 17th out of 19, but the event proved to be a great learning experience for them, as they had the ability to test their robot in action and had the chance to learn from some of the other more seasoned teams.

Brunswick also recently formed a team but was not present for this event.

Greenwich Academy’s RoboEpic has already qualified for the state tournament at a previous qualifier, The Mountain Matchup, held at Ridgefield Academy in December.

RoboEpic earned the Motivate Award for their spirit, teamwork and outstanding community outreach and service, which earned them a ticket to the states.

The team is now gearing up for the Vermont State Championships on Feb. 11, with the goal of earning a ticket to the SuperRegional tournament to be held in March. If the girls win there, they will earn a ticket to the World Championships in April, which will be held in St. Louis.

RoboEpic has completely redesigned its robot and perfected many of the custom parts for the game. The team is also focusing heavily on its autonomous programming, which will garner them more points.

The next qualifier is slated for Feb. 4 at the American School for the Deaf, where teams can try to win a coveted spot at the state championships on Feb. 18.

Related Posts
Loading...