Robotics teams advance to state FLL championship
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Three Upper St. Clair middle school robotics teams have qualified for the Pennsylvania FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Championship following strong performances at the Western Pennsylvania FLL Grand Championship on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, at Aliquippa High School.
The teams – Digital Dominators, Starfish Quartz and Steel Synapse – earned their state berths among a field of 77 teams from across the region.
Digital Dominators, a team of sixth graders, placed second overall and received the second-place Robot Performance Award. Team members are Tessa Bins, Pragnya Chetlur, Srinidhi Senthil Kumar, Shreya Nambiar, Seetha Muthiah and Grace Li.
Starfish Quartz, also composed of sixth graders, finished third overall and earned first place in Core Values. Team members include Kara Benedetto, Kendall Brown, Ishanvi Kuppili, Claire McCluskey, Nabanya Raja, Priyal Baskota, Callisto (Callie) Chen and Lilly Qian.
Steel Synapse, a team of seventh graders, placed seventh overall and earned second place in Innovation. Team members are Tarun Bharath, Porter Guarino, Aditya Singh, Siddh Patel, Ben Rovner, Ayan Sharma, and Rayansh Kature.
In total, 14 Upper St. Clair middle school robotics teams competed at the regional championship. All USC teams finished in the top half of the field in the Robot Game, with 13 of the 14 teams placing in the top third.
Teams were evaluated in four categories: Robot Design, Innovation, Core Values and Robot Performance. In addition to the state-qualifying teams, three Upper St. Clair teams earned special recognition.
Circuit Breakers, a team of seventh- and eighth-grade students, placed fifth in Robot Performance. Next Gen Builders, a team of fifth graders, finished sixth in Robot Performance. Cyber Quantum Hydro Plasma Waves, a rookie team of fifth graders, received the Rising Star Award.
The FIRST LEGO League Challenge emphasizes collaboration and creativity as students in grades 4-8 engage in research, engineering, coding and problem-solving. Teams design and program LEGO robots to complete a series of missions, while also developing innovative solutions to real-world problems connected to an annual theme.
The Pennsylvania State FLL Championship will be held Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, near Hershey, Pa.
- Boyce
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