Shelton Robotics To Defend Title In New England Championship

CONTRIBUTEDThe Shelton High School Robotics Team will travel to Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA this weekend, April 9 to April 12, to compete in the 2015 FIRST Robotics Competition New England District Championship.

The team of 21 students and mentors have been competing in District events for the past eight weeks and have won all three District competitions that they have participated in.

Waterbury, UMASS Dartmouth, and Hartford were the sites for the qualifying tournaments and the Gaelhawks took home first place in each event!

Additionally, the team was awarded the Chairman’s Award at the Hartford competition for overall excellence. The Chairman’s Award is the highest honor that a team can receive.

Teams participating in the 2015 New England District Championship have been working intensely since Jan. 3, to design, build, program and test robots to play this year’s FRC game, RECYCLE RUSH.

The recycling-themed game is played by two Alliances of three robots each. Robots score points by stacking shipping totes on scoring platforms on their side of the field, topping those stacks with recycling containers, and properly disposing of litter, represented by pool noodles.

In keeping with the recycling theme of the game, all game pieces used are reusable or recyclable by teams in their home locations or by FIRST at the end of the season.

Shelton is currently the 2014 reigning New England District champion after last year’s incredible season. Shelton High School Robotics is sponsored by UTC Sikorsky, OEM Controls, ATT Connecticut, Boeing, Intuitive Surgical, & Shelton Board of Education.

To learn more about this year’s game visit the FIRST website at: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/2015-game

To learn more about the Shelton High School Robotics Team and see our team in action, visit our YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/user/Gaelhawks

The New England Championship at WPI is free and open to the public. A complete schedule is listed here: http://www.nefirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015_NE_DCMP_Public_AgendaV3.pdf

If you can’t make it to Worcester and still would like to watch the competition LIVE by webcast you can tune in here: http://twitch.tv/NEFIRST_BLUE or here: http://twitch.tv/NEFIRST_RED

Team alliances that win at the NEFIRST District Championship will qualify to compete in the FIRST Championship, April 22 – 25 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Mo.

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