Vandegrift ViperBots team QuadX won the Inspire Award 2nd place at state and competed at the FTC World Championship in April. Kneeling left to right: Ethan Trinh, Maximilian Lipton, Elias Ronnigen, Manav Karonde, Alex Ritter, Tony Ortega and standing left to right: Cameron Buratto, Stephen Tushentsov, David Baker, Maximilian Ralian, Aiden Giroux

By CATHERINE GAUNT 

Contributor

The UIL FIRST Technical Challenge State Robotic Championship was hosted in Belton,Tex. earlier this year fielding 72 amazing teams from across the state.  

The Vandegrift ViperBots had four robotics teams that earned an invitation to the FTC State Championship at the end of March. This included teams QuadX (#6299), Hydra (#7161), Recoil (#16311), and Copperhead (#12596). 

ViperBots team QuadX won the Inspire Award 2nd place. This award gave team QuadX a coveted advancement to compete in Houston at the FTC World Championship in April.

The FIRST organization stands For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology and FTC is the level of robotics aimed at 7th thru 12th grade students. 

According to the FIRST website: “This judged award is given to the team that best embodies the ‘challenge’ of the FIRST Tech Challenge program. The team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and a role model FIRST team.”

ViperBots team Hydra performed very strongly, ranking 8th in the Johnson Division.  They became division finalists by forming an alliance with team captain Cedar Park HS RoboLobos Green and team Robo Sapiens. Team Recoil ranked 6th in the Johnson Division. Team Copperhead competed in the Tesla Division.