Middle school teams qualify for state robotics championship
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Upper St. Clair’s middle school competitive robotics teams celebrated their most successful event yet at the Western Pennsylvania FIRST Lego League (FLL) Grand Championship, held Saturday, Dec 7, 2024, at Aliquippa High School.
Two teams secured spots in the Pennsylvania State FLL Championships, scheduled for February.
Mechanical Mayhem, a team of eighth graders, placed third overall. They also earned second place in the Core Values category and third place in Robot Performance. Team members include Colby Caplan, Revanth Kompala, Lucas Liu-Hewett, Shreyan Mali, Avik Pandey, Reyansh Vijaywargiya and Bernard Huang. Coaches for the team are Jake Caplan, Rajesh Kumar and Ashish Vijaywargiya.
Revolution Robots, a team of seventh and eighth graders, finished eighth overall. Team members include Ritu Gupta, Aanya Jha, Nathan Suchta, Emily Chen, Mahathi Devaki, Praachi Sreeram and Nimisha Simhadri. The team is coached by Rama Bala, Archana Devaki and Geetali Pandey.
In addition, two teams qualified as alternates and may have the opportunity to compete at the state championships. The Starfish, a rookie team of fifth graders, placed ninth overall and received the Rising Star Award. CyBrix, a team of seventh graders, finished 10th overall and earned third place in the Core Values category. As the first and second alternates, respectively, these teams could advance to states if other qualifying teams are unable to compete.
“Our states-bound and alternate teams will be working hard to refine their robot and up their game over the next two months as we prepare for the Pennsylvania State FLL Championship,” Matthew Wilson, Upper St. Clair middle school FLL coordinator, said. “There they will face-off among the 36 top teams in the state for a chance to move on to the World Championship!”
In total, 11 Upper St. Clair middle school robotics teams competed at the regional event, collectively earning 13 judges’ recognition awards. USC teams were top contenders in Core Values, Robot Design and the Innovation Project independent research presentation. In Robot Performance, Upper St. Clair teams placed third, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 23rd, 32nd, 39th, and 46th among 62 teams.
The Pennsylvania State FLL Championship will take place Saturday, Feb 15, 2025, at Palmyra High School, near Hershey, Pa.
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