The Motivate 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 team designed their robot with sketches and sharp, clean lines. With its "all seeing" front-facing eyes viewing the colorful jewels, their mechanical creation was extremely effective. Their "ROCKY" arms cruised the dual glyphs into the crypto boxes with precision.

Winner: Team 9889, Cruise Control from Flanders, NJ

2nd Place: Team 9799, Ingenerds       3rd Place: Team 9242, GearHounds

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:

When it comes to Glyph Lift, this team proved that two stages are better than one. This hot little robot impressed the judges with its stacking ability. In spite of their bird being cooked last night, their dual glyph lift, lifted them to victory!

Winner: Team 7423, Flaming Phoenix from Kennett Square, PA

2nd Place: Team 7244, Out of the Box Robotics       3rd Place: Team 9799, Ingenerds

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 is as colorful as they are multi-dimensional. Taking what they have learned from their technical network, they are passing their knowledge on to the community. They have even INFILTRATED their local library to teach 3D printing.

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:

No matter where this team goes to do their learning, they are always thinking. The documentation in their notebook is detailed from design to prototyping and construction. This team's process gives their brains a cardio workout.

Winner: Team 11208, Kardia Robotics from Reading, PA

2nd Place: Team 9242, GearHounds       3rd Place: Team 7244, Out of the Box Robotics

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 team is the whole package, with outstanding robot design, engineering notebook and community outreach. Their glyph intake impressed the judges with their "tiny" wheeled design. Their inspiration cannot be contained!

Winner: Team 7244, Out of the Box Robotics from Downingtown, PA

2nd Place: Team 11208, Kardia Robotics     3rd Place: Team 8528, Rhyme Know Reason