Danbury High School Robotics Rocks Contest

The Danbury High School Vex Robotics Team 5150 took home seven trophies at the Connecticut State VEX Robotics Championship competition held over the weekend in Manchester, the Danbury Board of Education reported Monday.

 The 16-member team, running three competition robots, won Tournament Finalist, Team 5150E won Tournament Champion and 5150D took Robot Skills winner, Programming Skills finalist, judges’ award and excellence award, which is the top prize at any VEX competition.

 Both teams qualified for the April VEX World Championship in Anaheim, Calif. Of six total slots to the event from Connecticut, Danbury took two of them. Erik Savoyski, DHS Technology Education Teacher and the team’s adviser was awarded Volunteer of the Year, as he serves a referee at all the events.

 Team 5150D is currently ranked eighth in the world for VEX robot skills, where the driver scores as many points as possible in a one-minute timeframe. The team dedicated hundreds of hours toward building and programming their three world-class robots.

 “This year’s team motto was ‘Success is Determined by Effort,’” said Savoyski, “and my hat goes off to this group for the effort and dedication displayed throughout the season.”

 VEX Robotics is the fastest growing robotics platform in the world. VEX comes up with a new game to play every year, this year it is “Toss Up,” which is played on a 12-foot by 12-foot perimeter with two scoring zones and two goals, which teams attempt to score two sizes of balls into. Teams are broken into alliances of two to strategize for the 15-second autonomous and 1:45-minute driver periods.

 The DHS Honors Robotics class engages students in science, technology, engineering and math, helping prepare students for tomorrow’s high-tech workplace. Students taking the course have the opportunity to join the competitive robotics club, Team 5150. Working within the VEX robotics platform, the team has competed across Connecticut and New England for the past four years and qualified for the VEX World Championships three years in a row, first in Orlando, Fla. and twice in Anaheim.

Students on the team learn skills such as planning, brainstorming, collaboration, and teamwork in response to the challenges and obstacles. Problems are solved by individual efforts, or through interaction with their teammates and mentors. They experience firsthand the discipline of completing projects within timeframes. Robotics represents the perfect storm of applied physics, computer programming, integrated problem solving, networking, and leadership.