The Shelton High School Robotics team was recently recognized as the Tournament Champions at the first ever New England FIRST Robotics Regional Championship held at Agganis Arena in Boston, MA on April 10 – 12th, 2014.
SHS Robotics Team #230 The Gaelhawks, sponsored by UTC Sikorsky, Boeing, Pitney Bowes, OEM Controls, Intuitive Surgical, Haydon Kerk and Shelton High School partnered with teams #177 the Bobcats from South Windsor, CT & team #4055 NRG from Winsted, CT to take home the New England Regional Championship banner after three days of intense competition.
The three-team alliance fought valiantly from their 3rd seeded position to knock off both the #5 and #2 seeds to ultimately face and defeat the #1 top seeded alliance in the championship finals before a crowd of about 2,500 students and fans.
The New England FIRST Robotics Regional Championship featured 54 top teams from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut who competed at the Agganis Arena on the Boston University Campus in Boston, MA. All teams had to qualify through District competition to earn the spot at the New England Championship. This year’s competition, “Aerial Assault” requires teams to work together to score a large exercise ball into a goal with their remote controlled robots. Shelton’s robot “Talon XV” was built and operated by students from the SHS Robotics Team along with their mentors from Sikorsky, OEM Controls and UTC.
The Shelton Team will now travel to St. Louis, MO to compete in the FRC World Championship on April 24 – 26th, 2014. The World Championship will play host to over 400 qualifying teams from across the globe to determine this year’s champion. Details about the event and webcast information can be found at: www.USFIRST.org The Gaelhawks will be competing in the Curie Division and are hoping to continue their successful championship run.
Sponsored by the Shelton Public School System and local technology companies UTC Sikorsky, OEM Controls, Pitney Bowes, Boeing, Haydon Kerk, and Intuitive Surgical, the team is grateful for the continued support of their long-time sponsors.
Anyone interested in sponsoring the team is asked to contact team advisor, John Niski at Shelton High School [email protected] for more information on how to help the team raise the nearly $10,000.00 needed for registration and travel expenses.
The team is currently in its 16th year of operation and members include about 25 SHS students and volunteer adult mentors from Sikorsky, OEM Controls, Technology Service Corporation and other area technology companies. For more detailed information please check out the team website at www.shsrobotics.org
