Local robotics team advances to World Championship
Trending
The Fort Myers-based FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team Java The Hutts has advanced to the World Championship competition to be held in Houston, between April 20-23. Forty-nine teams competed at the State Championship held at Winter Heaven on March 5.
Java The Hutts was one of the finalist robot teams and won the overall first place Inspire Award, which is the first team out of Florida to advance to Worlds (only three teams move on to worlds out of the 49 teams that competed). The team also set two state records with alliance partners during the state championship.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a global robotics community with teams spread across 110 countries, with primary focus on advancing STEM education. FIRST Tech Challenge is a category of robotics competition developed by
FIRST covering grades 7 through 12. Teams design, build and program a robot to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The 2021/2022 Texas, competition is primarily sponsored by Qualcomm Incorporated and Raytheon Technologies.
Prior to the state championship, Java The Hutts competed in three regional meets leading up to the Gulf Coast Robotics League Championship in which the team won the topmost award - the Inspire Award and ranked #1 for the robot. Inspire Award is given to the team that is a top contender for many other judged awards and is a gracious competitor. The Inspire Award winner is an inspiration to other teams sharing their experiences, enthusiasm and knowledge with other team, sponsors, their community, and the Judges.
Java The Hutts has been busy this season not only building and programming its top-notch robot but also conducting close to 30 outreach activities. The activities include demonstration of the robot, summer camps, coaching other local teams and spreading STEM in the community.
Java The Hutts' current team members are from three different Lee County schools – Fort Myers High School (Dhruva Sharma, Cayden Keene, Kyle Keene), Bonita Springs High School (Robbie Stewart, Joaquin Konicek) and Dunbar High School (Advaith Menon). The I Will Mentorship Foundation is a sponsor of the team and provides the team workspace.
Since the founding of the team four years ago, the main goal has always been to spread awareness of robotics and encourage more students to be involved with FIRST robotics programs. They have accomplished this by inspiring several FTC robotics teams within SWFL.
To learn more about team #14725 Java The Hutts, and its impact in Southwest Florida, visit www.javathehutts.org. For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Nithya Sharma at 208-841-2498 or javathehutts14725@gmail.com.