The Scientia Foundation and the UVic-UCC, sponsored by Girbau Group company, have organized the robotics competition FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) held on 5th&6th April 2019 in the American School of Barcelona (Esplugues de Llobregat).

The Epiteugma Revved Up team from Cyprus won the FIRST Tech Challenge Championship Spain. The team has received the ‘Inspire Award’ which opens up the possibility of traveling to the United States and participating in the Detroit World Championship from April 24 to 27.
This edition marks the start of FIRST Tech Challenge in Spain, thanks to the impulse of the Scientia Foundation, the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia and the Girbau Group. In total, there were two hundred students aged 16 to 18 years, distributed in 18 teams from Catalonia and the rest of Spain, but also from Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Cyprus and the Czech Republic.

The list of the awards in this Tournament were for the teams:

·The Encrypted Gentleman team (from The Netherlands) received the Think Award, which evaluates the ability to solve engineering problems creatively.

·The HP S.A.S team (from the Netherlands) obtained the Connect Award, because it has been the best to connect the STEM elements.

·The RoboCats team (from Germany) won the Collins Aerospace Innovate Award, which puts in value the design and innovation of the robot.

·The team F.R.O.G. (Frog Robots of Germany) won the Desgin Award for having incorporated industrial design into the robot.

·The Can-Alpha Space team (from Tenerife, in Canary Islands) won the Motivate Award, which rewards the values of teamwork.

·The German EAGles team (from Germany) won the Control Award for having better used the sensors and the software in benefit of the functionality in the field.

Finally, the German EAGles team the F.R.O.G. team (both from Germany) won the Wining Alliance Award, while the Mechanical Sharks (from Manlleu-Catalonia) and the Casimir Tech (from the Netherlands) won the Finalist Alliance Award.

The most important STEM program at an international level

FIRST Tech Challenge is the largest international STEM program for young people aged between 16 and 18, as it has 47,000 participants, 4,711 teams from 25 countries around the world. It is engineering and fun in the pure state with the aim of promoting scientific and technological vocations among young people. FIRST Tech Challenge is added to other STEM programs, also promoted in Spain by the Scientia Foundation, such as FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Junior.

The participants in the FIRST Tech Challenge Championship Spain have had to design, create, test and program autonomous robots and operated by drivers who have had to perform a series of missions and tasks on a specific field play, in accordance with the challenge ” Rover Ruckus “, which this year focused on the exploration of the galaxies, beyond the solar system. To buil up the robots, teams could used real pieces as long as they did not exceed certain preestablihed measures and weight and had to present “the Engineering Notebook” in front of a jury, to explain how the robot was built.

Next year in Vic

In the upcoming editions, FIRST Tech Challenge Championship Spain will be held in Vic, at the headquarters of its university. This was agreed by the three leading institutions of the event: Scientia Foundation, Girbau and the UVic-UCC.