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Robotheosis Makes Parker Robotics History!

Francis W. Parker School Alumni Email
By the Upper School Robotics Team

On Friday, February 23 and Saturday, February 24, one of Parker’s Upper School robotics teams, Team 3507 Robotheosis, competed at the Illinois State Championship Tournament. This season, the team designed and built a robot to play a game called Relic Recovery, which is loosely based on the “Indiana Jones” movie genre. If you would like to see more about the game and competition, you can watch the
game video.

Robotheosis qualified for the Illinois State Championship tournament by winning the Inspire Award at the Chicago League Championship. This is the top award at competition and goes to the team that excels in all aspects of the tournament. The team was also a member of the winning alliance in head-to-head play and received the Control Award for their robot’s programming.

At the State Championship, Robotheosis gave an engineering presentation to judges and competed against 43 other teams championship. After qualification matches, the team finished in 7th place in its division and was selected to compete in elimination matches, allying with Team 6596 Robotic Rams from Port Byron and Team 8899 EP RoboRaiders from Peoria. The alliance eventually lost in a tie-breaker match in the semifinals after achieving the highest single game score in its division.

At the Championship Award ceremony, longtime mentor and Parker parent emeritus Mike Johnson, who has been a part of Parker Robotics since 2006, received the FTC Compass Award for the state of Illinois. The Compass Award is a student-submitted award that recognizes one adult coach or mentor in the state who has provided outstanding guidance and support to a team throughout the year and demonstrates to the team what it means to be a gracious professional. Mr. Johnson has been a tireless supporter of Parker robotics, even after his son Jared Johnson graduated from Parker in 2010, and is incredibly deserving of the recognition. Below is the
video submission the students made as part of the award. Thank you for all you do, Mr. Johnson!

Additionally, the team won the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award for the most innovative and creative robot design. This is one of the top awards at competition and earned the team advancement to the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) North Super Regional Championship. The team was also a finalist for the Design Award, which recognizes industrial design elements, creativity and aesthetics.

This is the first award Parker Robotics has earned at the FTC State Tournament and the first time a Chicago team has qualified for the Super Regionals. The North Super Regional Championship will take place Thursday, March 15 through Saturday, March 17 at the U.S. Cellular Center and Doubletree Convention Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During this event, Robotheosis will compete against 71 other teams representing nine US states for the opportunity to advance to the World Championships. More information about the event is available at
ftcnorth.org.
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