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 impressed the judges with their uniquely designed robot base. Their mineral delivery system was highly maneuverable to handle sorting any combination of minerals. They could collect those minerals like dogs on a bone.

Winner: Team 8645 Robotic Doges

2nd Place: Team 6055 GearTicks       3rd Place: Team 8393 The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team

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:

The judges loved this team's custom manufactured intake parts and creative use of a lead screw. Their innovative mineral launching system, combined with their unique drive train, gave them a great game field advantage. The gear tricks of their custom parts really helped get their wheels on the ground.

Winner: Team 6055 GearTicks

2nd Place: Team 8393 The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team       3rd Place: Team 6378 Jay Bots

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 has laid out a clear business plan for future growth. They have engaged with multiple mentors in different fields to provide a solid foundation. Their plans will blaze a path forward so they can soar through the air.

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:

This team's notebook was well organized, showing their robot's design progression from detailed sketches to CAD to their current iteration. They received guidance for their design journey from engineers and scientists from the four corners of the world. They assimilated their vision for their robot into a collective reality.

Winner: Team 12538 eBorg Robotics

2nd Place: Team 5356 Tardis       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 team impressed the judges with their well-rounded involvement in both competitions and STEM community involvement. Their flexible drive train plowed over the crater rim with ease, and they used their sponsor connections to get a 3D printer donated to a local organization. Their consistent high scoring matches show their giant use of brain power.

Winner: Team 8393 The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team

2nd Place: Team 6055 GearTicks     3rd Place: Team 12538 eBorg Robotics