The two South River High School junior varsity robotics teams placed ninth and tenth at the Jan. 29 FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) regional qualifier, held at Penn State's York campus.

The Talons, nicknamed after the varsity PowerHawks, were chosen by the fourth seeded alliance as partners. At the semi-final, they were defeated by the first-seeded alliance.

However, the Talons won the Inspire Award (the highest FTC honor, similar to the FIRST Robotics Championships' Chairman's Award). The award gives them an automatic slot at the next level championship competition.

The other JV team, the Junior PowerHawks, finished tenth in qualifying rounds and were nominated for the Motivate and Connect awards.

There were 18 teams competing in York for a limited number of slots at the March 5 state championships to be held in Weatherly, PA.

About FIRST Tech Challenge

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge is an offshot of FIRST Robotics, founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen. Due to the popularity of FIRST Robotics, other competitions have been developed to cater to younger and younger science and engineering students. Among these other challenges is FTC, designed for students in grades 9 through 12.

Challenges for middle school and elementary school students include FIRST LEGO League and Junior FIRST LEGO League. 

This year's FTC challenge, "Get Over It," was to build a robot that could collect and dispense PVC batons on a 12-foot by 12-foot field, while playing offensively and defensively against another team's robot. 

About the Inspire Award

According to FIRST Tech Challenge, the Inspire Award is given to the team that truly embodied the challenge of the FTC program. The team that receives this award is chosen by the judges as having best represented a role model FIRST Tech Challenge Team. The team that receives this award is a top contender for all other judging categories and is a strong competitor on the field.

Judges use match performance, observations made during interviews and in the pit area, and the team’s Engineering Notebook as factors in determining the winner of this award.

The Inspire Award winning team receives an automatic invitation to advance to the next level event. If presented at a Qualifying Tournament, the team will receive an automatic invitation to participate in a Championship Tournament. If presented at a Championship Tournament, the team will receive an automatic invitation to participate at the World Championship Event.

Congratulations to all of the students participating in both team Talons and team Junior PowerHawks.