SCH to host FIRST District Robotics Tournament

Posted 3/16/23

Trailers full of students and their industrial-size robots will stream into Chestnut Hill this weekend for the FIRST regional robotics tournament hosted by Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.

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SCH to host FIRST District Robotics Tournament

Posted

Trailers full of students and their industrial-size robots will stream into Chestnut Hill this weekend for the FIRST regional robotics tournament hosted by Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. 

FIRST, representing the “global robotics community for young people,” runs competitions that combine “the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology.” 

SCH is hosting a qualifying tournament on Saturday and Sunday, March 18-19, when 31 teams from the tri-state area will face off at the school’s Vare Field House, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (with an hour off for lunch).

SCH, which first launched its robotics program 20 years ago, now has a team that spent  January to March hunkered down in the school’s state-of-the-art robotics lab, designing and building their secret weapon for competition play. The team, called Team 1218, is part of the 2019 FIRST World Champion alliance, draws on the talent and expertise of 40 high school students, coaches, alumni, and mentors, including parent Youngmoo Kim, executive director of Drexel University’s ExCITe Center andprofessor of electrical & computerengineering, and director of the Music & Entertainment Technology Laboratory, and former 1218 team member Ellie Weinstein ’15, founder and CEO of Cocoa Press.

This year, their robot is named “Stinger,” and features an arm with three degrees of freedom, including a 360-degree rotating wrist, pneumatics-based intake and claw, and a low-profile swerve drive. 

Spectators are invited to witness the fierce competition that distinguishes a robotics tournament – combining the intensity and talent of an Olympic event with the excitement of a rock concert – in-person at the Vare Field House on the campus of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 8000 Cherokee Street, Philadelphia 19118, or livestream @ www.sch.org.