Making it to the FIRST World Championship event in Houston on April 17-20, Fenton’s robotics team, Titanium Tigers Team #5114, had experiences they will never forget as they got to visit Texas and compete with some of the best robotics teams in the world.
With the Robotics team doing so well this year, it’s fair to say that hard work and success played a role.
“Team 5114 the Titanium Tigers are one of the most successful teams so far this year, with two event wins and a district impact award win to display in their pit,” according to an update on the First Updates Now Facebook page during the competition. “They have a well-designed robot that, through iteration, has seen great success.”
Going into Worlds, The Titanium Tigers were happy to meet new people and learn new skills.
“Worlds was bigger than I could have ever imagined,” senior Ryan Czop said. “Although we didn’t win anything, it was great to see so many people from all over the world come together. Not only to compete but to develop skills that we will use in our future careers.”
While at the competition, the Fenton Robotics team also got to watch younger kids compete and meet other robotics teams across the country.
“I had so much fun going to worlds,” Czop added. “I was able to watch our robot compete against others, meet other teams, attend conferences about career development and also watch elementary and middle school teams compete as well. I also got to learn Spanish skills which was also very fun.”
From the experience at the world competition, the team sets their sights on growing in the future.
“Unfortunately, we did not make the playoffs, which bummed us out a little bit,” Czop said. “However, we did finish ranked 30th out of 622 in Michigan. I have to be honest and say that I think we could have done better; however, what matters is that we take away lessons from this experience and improve our team in future years.”
Prior to Fenton ended up finishing 49 at the World Competition with a record of 4-6, the team participated in the District Kettering University Event #2 with a record of 14-30-0 and a finishing up at Rank 6, winning both the District FIRST Impact award and the District Event Winner award. For more information on their team check out fentonrobotics.com.
