Rockwall, TX – January 6, 2014 – Robot-bearing students from V5RC team 2587Z, the DiscoBots, from Houston, Texas, V5RC team 9090C, T-VEX from Arlington, Texas and V5RC team 231Z from Pasadena ISD Robotics in Houston, Texas took home the coveted Winning Alliance trophies as Tournament Champions of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl VEX Robotics Competition in San Antonio this past week. V5RC team 4080A, Silent Bot Deadly, from Ladonia, Texas was recognized with the Excellence award, the most prestigious award of the competition. V5RC team 400X, team Xtreme, from Galveston, Texas went away with the Design award for their outstanding engineering and documentation. These middle and high school students competed with and against 54 teams from across Texas and Mexico. The Tournament Champions, Excellence award winners, and Design award recipients all qualified for the chance to compete in the South Texas Regional VEX Robotics Competition and the U.S. Open VEX Robotics Championship in Omaha, Nebraska.
The action-packed day required middle and high school students to execute VEX Toss Up, a game that is played on a 12’x12’ square field. Two alliances – one “red” and one “blue” – composed of two teams each, compete in matches consisting of a fifteen-second autonomous period followed by one minute and forty-five seconds of driver-controlled play. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent alliance by scoring bucky balls and large balls in middle and goal zones, earning bonus points and doubling or negating goals.
“The Army is proud to be able to showcase the incredible talents of these winning teams and all of the students who took part in this competition,” said Col. John Keeter, deputy, Army Marketing and Research Group. “Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are critical not just to our Army’s success, but to the success of our nation, and we recognize the importance of encouraging STEM interest and excellence in today’s youth.”
High School senior Cedric Shy, Driver of V5RC team 2587Z, the DiscoBots, from Houston, Texas, who was a part of the Winning Alliance commented, “The best moment of the day was making it to the finals. I’m so proud of the communication that we maintained with our alliance partners and our ability to play offense and defense against the tough competition. Our ultimate goal is to compete at the VEX World Championship alongside some of the most accomplished teams from around the world.”
Jason Morrella, president of the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, said, “The students participating in the VEX Robotics Competition consistently exhibit high levels of enthusiasm, teamwork, and a true passion for learning — gaining new appreciation for science, technology, engineering and mathematics through robotics.” The REC Foundation manages the VEX Robotics Competition program that thousands of schools participate in around the world.
The U.S. Army All-American Bowl VEX Robotics Competition is one of a series of VEX Robotics Competitions taking place internationally throughout the year. The VEX Robotics Competition is the world’s fastest growing competitive robotics program for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world, with more than 9,000 teams from 26 countries that participate in more than 400 VEX Robotics Competition events worldwide.
More information about The REC Foundation and VEX Robotics Competitions is available at robocticseducation.org and RobotEvents.com.
About the REC Foundation
The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, supports robotics and technology events and programs that aim to inspire and motivate students to advance in STEM education. In addition to operating and supporting competitions for some of the world’s leading robotics platforms and organizations including VEX, TSA and BEST Robotics Competitions, the Foundation also provides program support and workshops focused on technology and professional development for educators – including the RobotEvents.com community portal website which helps promote multiple high quality programs and provides online registration and event pages for hundreds of events around the world.
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