![Hotchkiss Robotics Advances to Worlds and New England Championships]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1708371669/hotchkiss/p4lph1l4f3h1xt3iqarf/Hotchkiss-Robotics-State-Championship-Thumb.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1708371669/hotchkiss/p4lph1l4f3h1xt3iqarf/Hotchkiss-Robotics-State-Championship-Thumb.png","width":490}])
Hotchkiss Robotics earned its best-ever postseason competition advancement at the FIRST Robotics Connecticut State Championship on Feb. 17.
Team 20188—the more senior team—advanced to the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship by their placement as first runner-up in the Inspire Award judging, and junior Team 20189 advanced to the New England Invitational Championship by their placement as second runner-up in the Inspire Award judging
Hotchkiss Robotics earned two of the eight post-season berths available to Connecticut teams, representing the best possible outcome for the robotics program at Hotchkiss.
The FIRST Robotics Inspire Award is the highest award that can be bestowed up on a team. The Inspire Award celebrates the strongest qualities of all the judged awards. It represents excellence and gracious professionalism across all categories of team inclusiveness, planning and execution, design, innovation, engineering, and community involvement.
"We are very proud that our teams finished as the top two of three teams in the judging among the 25 teams present at the tournament," said Bob Hickman, coach and mentor of competitive FIRST Robotics and instructor in mathematics.
For the second year in a row, Hotchkiss robotics also brought home from the State Championship the Design Award for their unique and advanced industrial approaches on the Team 20189 robot and the Motivate award for Team 20188's demonstration of FIRST Robotics professionalism, teamwork, and outreach.
The FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship will be held April 17-20 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. More than 600 teams will converge in Houston to compete in the FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Robotics Competition divisions.
The FIRST Tech Challenge New England Invitational Championship, representing 30 top-ranked teams from New England, will be held on April 5 at the Eastern States Exposition Center, Springfield, MA.
"We are very proud of the hard work and persistence that our students invested in this year's challenging game," Hickman said. "Our students represented Hotchkiss with professionalism, skill, dedication, and teamwork."
