Eastern Pennsylvania Regional Qualifying Tournament

The judges would like to recognize a team that has overcome adversity in order to compete. They lost their grant at the beginning of the season and had to suspend wok on their robot to hunt down additional funding. While they were rebuilding their own program, they reached out to help other rebuild after Hurricane Sandy by volunteering with the Red Cross. For “Overcoming Adversity” the Judges Award goes to team 5488 Robodragons.

This team’s spirit is so bright it can be seen and heard as soon as you walk in the door. They’re so MOE-tivated that they were the first ones here today, so let’s cheer once MOEr as the winners of the Motivate Award.

Outreach is no foreign concept to this team, who act as ambassadors to FIRST and STEM careers both on the local and international level. Their commitment to this mission has taken them as far as Guatemala, where they were bitten by a desire to teach young kids about robotics.

In 3 short years this team has grown wings. This team is definitely in the right track. An elevator helped them rise to their inspiration.

When you look at the design you can clearly see the innovation. The beauty of the articulating arm is outdone only by the flexibility of the claw. They've figured out all the angles to come up with a superior first year robot.

This team really drives for success. Their notebook really drove home the points with well documented strategies, pilots and prototypes. Their use of an electronic format combined with green “stickies" made it easy to access the overall quality of their design process and the thoroughness of their work.

This team is a well-rounded, impressive team that scored high consistently both on the field and in the interview. In the heat of the competition, they were able to reach high using their innovative design. They provide that critical care and triage for their community, other FIRST Teams and even their fellow competitors.