A team of four Ulster BOCES Advanced Robotics & Engineering students from New Paltz and Saugerties Central School Districts have earned a championship trophy at the 2016 New York Tech Valley Robot Rumble Off-Season robotics competition. The event took place on Saturday, November 5 at Ballston Spa High School.

This was the first time the Ulster BOCES students competed in such a competition. The team, consisting of students Cody Heller of New Paltz High School, along with Joshua McCormick, Nicholas Dennis, and Christopher Backus, all of Saugerties High School, faced off against 23 other teams from New York and Connecticut.

"Our students attended the off-season competition to get some experience under their belt. They worked well together and pulled out a win," said Principal Dean T. Lucera. "We are really proud of them and their instructor, Mark Harris, and look forward to seeing what they accomplish in future events."

As an off-season competition, the November 5 event was structured differently than other season challenges. Typically a team begins with an unassembled robot, which they first must build. Since the school year is still in its beginning stages, this competition did not have the robot-build component and focused more on the teams' ability to control a unit through the various challenges. The new Ulster BOCES team does not yet have its own robot, but was able to participate using a unit borrowed from Shenendehowa High School. "Participation in this off-season event was about exposure," explained Lucera.

The contest rules included strict guidelines designed to hone problem-solving and teambuilding skills, while also requiring students to demonstrate professionalism to perform prescribed tasks against their competitors.

McCormick says the experience gained from participating in the competition was advantageous as the Ulster BOCES team is planning to compete in the upcoming FIRST® Robotics Competition Kickoff this winter at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. "We now better understand how robots work," he explains, adding that there is a lot of work to do to prepare for the contest. "We have a lot to learn, but we'll get there."