The Design Award expands on this year's 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 in 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 clean design impressed the judges.  Their bot consistently landed and collected minerals.  Their blue and gold colors complemented their elegant design.

Winner: Team 7314 Sab-BOT-age

2nd Place: Team 8393 The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team      3rd Place: Team 5356 Tardis

The Collins Aerospace 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 game. 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's delivery systems helped them rapidly score.  It sorted the particles without servos or gears.  They dug out those minerals like hounds on their prey.

Winner: Team 9242 GearHounds

2nd Place: Team 5356 Tardis      3rd Place: Team 8393 The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team

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 other STEM professionals and exploring the opportunities available in the world of science and technology.

Here is what the judges had to say:This team strongly values connecting with the professional STEM community.  They not only work to build long lasting relationships with companies, but also lead these companies to supporting larger robotic causes.  This team is Not Small, Enormous, Immense, Gargantuan, BIG...you might even say they're Giant.

The Think Award is given to the team that the Judges feel best reflects the journey of the engineering design process. The engineering notebook is the key reference for Judges to help them 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:

This team's use of physics computations to drive their design was astronomical.  Their documentation of the process they used for the design was worthy of a BBC telecast.  Even The Doctor would be proud.

Winner: Team 5356 Tardis

2nd Place: Team 14464 AI Robotics      3rd Place: Team 8645 Robotic Doges

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 both 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 well-rounded team performed admirably in all categories.  Their two stage mechanism scored like a champ and their outreach was spot on.  This team with a meme is not going to the dogs.

Winner: Team 8645 Robotic Doges

2nd Place: Team 9242 GearHounds    3rd Place: (not awarded)