This Judged Award celebrates the Team that exemplifies the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition and embraces the culture of FIRST while making a collective effort to make FIRST known throughout their school, and community and sparks others to embrace the culture of FIRST.

 

Here is what the judges had to say:

The intent of the Design Award is to expand on the challenge, inspiring Teams to incorporate industrial design into their robots. These elements can be shown in the simplicity of the design as it applies to the tasks, the look and feel of the robot, and how the design allows us to think of robots in new ways. The Design aspect must serve a function - but they should also differentiate the robot in a unique fashion.

 

Here is what the judges had to say:

This teams robot was logically designed, stemming from a plan that was anything but standard. Their robot was quick to grab gylphs like an intelligent bird. Like a strident ostrich, this robot moved around the field with ease. 

Winner: Team 9372, Standard Model from New York, NY

2nd Place: Team 8393, The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team       3rd Place: Team 9872, (In)Formal Logic

The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award celebrates a Team that has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. This Award is given to the Team that the Judges feel has the most Innovative and Creative Robot design solution to the FIRST Tech Challenge. Elements of this Award include elegant design, robustness and 'out of the box' thinking with regard to design. This Award may address the design of the whole robot or some sub-assembly component of the robot. The creative component needs to work consistently, but a robot does not have to work all of the time during Matches to be considered for this Award. The Team's Engineering Notebook showed the design of the component(s) and the Team's robot, and clearly explains how the Team arrived at their solution.

 

Here is what the judges had to say:

This team "blue" the judges away with their speedy intake. Their logical solution came at the glyphs from all angles. This team is definitely a unique-corn!

Winner: Team 9872, (In)Formal Logic from Harrisburg, PA

2nd Place: Team 8393, The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team       3rd Place: Team 9794, Wizards.exe

The Connect Award, is presented to the Team that the Judges' feel most connected with their local community, FIRST and the business world. The best Team is more than the sum of its parts, and recognizes that their schools and communities play an essential part to their success. The recipient of this Award is recognized for helping the community understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the Team itself. In addition, the Team that wins this Award is aggressively seeking engineers and exploring the opportunities available in the world of engineering, science and technology.

Here is what the judges had to say:This team serves as a huge bridge to the engineering community. Their success stems from tech shop techniques. Helping FLL teams, battle bots and start-up companies is a no-brainer for this team.

This judged award is given to the Team that best reflects the journey the Team took as they experienced the engineering design process during the build season. The Engineering Notebook is the key reference for judges to help identify the most deserving Team. This Team's Engineering Notebook focused on the design and build stages of the Team's robot and exemplified their journey as a team and engineers.

Here is what the judges had to say:

The judges were impressed with this team's remarkable math and science skills, clearly outlining their designs with formulas and solid models. It does not take special powers to see that this team knows how to document their FTC journey. The "Judges League" wishes to recognize these super heroes for their superior design skills. 

Winner: Team 8468, The Javengers from Enola, PA

2nd Place: Team 9794, Wizards.exe       3rd Place: Team 8393, The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team

The Inspire Award is given to the Team that the Judges felt truly embodied the 'challenge' of the FIRST Tech Challenge program. The Team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and works to promote FIRST and make it loud in their community. The Team that receives this Award has performed well in all Judging categories and was chosen by the Judges as a model FIRST Tech Challenge Team on and off the playing field. The Judges used Match performance, observations made during interviews and in the pit area, the Team's Engineering Notebook, and performance on the playing field in determining the winner.

Here is what the judges had to say:

This high energy team exudes grace and coopertition. On the field, their robot delivers a double shot of relic power. Their success comes from hard work and dedication, not magic. 

Winner: Team 9794, Wizards.exe from Rockville, MD

2nd Place: Team Team 8393, The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team     3rd Place: Team 8468, The Javengers