Granby 4-H Robotics Teams secured three World Awards at Live Remote VEX Robotics World Championship 2021 that has been recognized as the Largest Online Robot Championships record holder by Guinness World Records®. During the live remote event, over 1,600 teams from 30 countries and 49 U.S. states competed in timed, heart-pounding robotics competition matches with their custom-built robots.
Granby 4-H VEX Robotics is the only 4-H VEX Robotics program in New England. These teams consist of 4-Hers that range in age levels from 11-18 who love designing building, and programming robotics. These teams meet several times a week, all year long. The team is supported by mentors from around the community who volunteer hundreds of hours.
Rachael Manzer, the team’s coach said, “Out of 13,000 teams that competed around the world this year, for all three teams to qualify for the World Championship is an incredible accomplishment. But for each team to earn a prestigious award that was announced worldwide is extraordinary! I am so proud of these young innovators for their ability to take what they’ve learned through the year and apply it to building and programming a robot, and then going through the rigors of competing with their creation. The team persevered during a challenging year to successfully compete against teams around the globe.”
To ensure the safety of its robotics community due to the pandemic, this unique event adapted to a virtual format. Typically, the annual VEX Robotics World Championship attracts more than 30,000 attendees from all 50 states and more than 70 nations. The newly created Live Remote Tournament (LRT) and Live Remote Skills (LRS) interfaces leveraged interactive and real-time video streaming to unite teams from around the globe with their competition fields and robots to crown champions like never before.
“Taking home these awards is a major milestone that demonstrates perseverance, creativity and sportsmanship which are cornerstones of the competition,” said Dan Mantz, CEO of the REC Foundation. “We’re extremely proud of these winners along with all the dedicated competitors from around the world. The team’s commitment to achieving this award with the unwavering support of mentors and parents make this moment very special.”
Team 18891A received Create Award
The Create Award is presented to the team whose robot design incorporates a creative engineering solution to the design challenges of the season’s game. Key criteria: Robot has a well-crafted, unique design solution, which demonstrates creative thinking.
Team 18891C received Energy Award
The Energy Award is presented to a team that displays a high level of enthusiasm and passion at the event.
Team 18891B received
Excellence Award
The Excellence Award is the highest award presented in the VEX Robotics competition. This award is presented to a team that exemplifies overall excellence in building a high-quality robotics program. This team is a strong contender in numerous award categories. This team has automatically qualified to compete in the 2022 VEX World Championship.
The Granby 4-H VEX Robotic Teams give a special thank you to the Granby Community and for all its support. This 4-H program doesn’t have any outside funders. The 4-Hers raise all the funding needed for the program to run, which covers things like competition registration fees and pieces to build the robot. Due to the pandemic, all its traditional ways of fundraising were not possible. It was uncertain if the program would even be able to continue. Due to your support through the bottle/can drives you made this program possible! The Granby 4-H Robotics Program also thanks the Granby’s South Congregational Church for all its support by allowing this community-based program to use its space. Please look for future bottle/can drives as the teams are fundraising to attend the 2022 World Championship in Dallas.
The Granby 4-H Robotics program is grateful to the Granby Community for your support and proud to bring home three World Championship Awards.