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's notebook led the judges through the development of their design concepts. They HUNTED for the perfect glyph grabber and left no stone unturned. These HOUNDS are hot on the trail of form, function, and aesthetics.

Winner: Team 9242, GearHounds from York, PA

2nd Place: Team 12538, eBorg Robotics       3rd Place: Team 7423, Flaming Phoenix

The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award celebrates a Team that has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. 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.

 

Here is what the judges had to say:

This team's robot reaches far with its 3D printed parts. Their multi-jointed arm and claw scored relic points at every chance. This team's FIERY design operates with the simple push of a button.

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

2nd Place: Team 10333, TechSpark       3rd Place: Team 12538, eBorg Robotics

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 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:


Winner: Team 4347, NanoGurus from Morris Plains, NJ

2nd Place: Team 12538, eBorg Robotics       3rd Place: Team 11208, Kardia 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 spreading the word of FIRST not only across their community and their state, but also around the world. Their enthusiasm and energy propelled them from the past to became a shining beacon of possibilities in FTC. This rookie team comprised of sub-teams that COLLECTIVELY came together to ENRICH their trans-formative experience. The judges found it FUTILE TO RESIST them.

Winner: Team 12538, eBorg Robotics from East Hanover, NJ

2nd Place: Team 4347, NanoGurus     3rd Place: Team 9872, (In)Formal Logic