Penn FTC robotics will soon be partaking in their first qualification tournament at Griffith High School on January 18th. The tournament will go on for the entire day, where teams compete in this year’s FTC game, Skystone.

Kevin McNulty | PNN

The game is centered around grabbing yellow blocks, called stones, and stacking them on a foundation. The rest of the rules can be found at firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc/game-and-season.

The teams going for Penn are 4600 Binary Bots, 4601 Beta Bots, 6360 Brazen Bots, 12091 Bermuda Bots, and 12902 Bravo Bots.

The qualification tournament is the tournament that decides which teams head on to semi-states. There are many ways to get into semi-states, as FIRST’s goal isn’t just robotics. Along with the best performing team, teams who receive the Think award and the Inspire awards from the judges also get to move on to semi-states.

Kevin McNulty | PNN Team Bermuda Bots and team Brazen Bots tie against two teams during a scrimmage.

By Kevin McNulty

Kevin McNulty teaches English and Mass Media Studies at Penn High School. He advises the Penn News Network and manages the PNN Studio and news room. For more information, navigate your browser to www.massmediastudies.net.