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Each year, teams from New York high schools work around the clock to create working robots that are then put in various competitions in a 30-match round-robin style opening qualification round as they battle for a spot in the playoff.
This year, Westchester was represented by the team out of John Jay High School-Cross River, in the Katonah/Lewisboro District, which brought its 20228 SMRT robot to the US First NY Regional Championship that was held at the Mohawk Community College in Utica.
John Jay High School computer science teacher Jonathan Peter, who also teaches engineering and robotics as a class and coaches four robot teams there, said that this year, one of his teams took the competition to the limit, coming inches from making a run at the finals.
The 12-hour event started with a round-robin style qualification round, where John Jay came out firing, setting a state high score in the first match with the school's alliance partner, Mechanical Meltdown 12833, which would become their main competition throughout the rest of the tournament.
John Jay’s SMRT made it to the final round of the qualifiers as they began partnering with Beta Fish 8397, which proved to be a strong union, even with a penalty for a false start.
The SMRT easily was tops in the qualifying round, claiming an overwhelming 214-87 victory to finish the round 5-0 and in first place overall in the field of 28 teams from around the state.
As the top seed, John Jay was permitted to choose its alliance, again teaming with upstate robots 8397 Beta Fish, a 4H team from Plattsburgh in Clinton County, and team 584 Underboss out of Corning in Steuben County.
Ultimately, John Jay’s alliance fell just short, and they were topped by a team led by Robovines 6955 from Ballston Spa in Saratoga County to become the New York State US First FTC Champion, where they will now progress to the World Championships in Houston, Texas.
Complete results from the qualifying matches can be found here, and the playoff bracket can be seen here.
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