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Yonkers Team Participating In Robotics Competition

PEEKSKILL, N.Y. – Fledgling techies will be going toe-to-toe – or, maybe, widget-to-widget – this weekend during the first-ever robotics contest to be held at Peekskill High School.

Peekskill High School's robotics team will host a regional tourney this Saturday, Dec. 3, where fledgling scientists and engineers can show off their technical skills.

Peekskill High School's robotics team will host a regional tourney this Saturday, Dec. 3, where fledgling scientists and engineers can show off their technical skills.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Fourteen teams from high schools and clubs will compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge, set to start at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 3.

FIRST, a nonprofit founded more than two decades ago by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, says its mission is to “inspire young people to be science and technology leaders.”

“This is an exciting opportunity for our Peekskill school community and we look forward to working with FIRST and welcoming the visiting teams,” said Peekskill robotics teacher Carlo Vidrini.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the gymnasium. The school is at 1072 Elm St.

Students will use their engineering skills to design and program robots, develop strategies and work as a team to complete various tasks during the tourney.

But it’s more than just robots, according to FIRST’s mission statement: knowledge of science, engineering and technology not only inspires innovation, it helps kids build life skills such as self-confidence, communication and leadership.

The high school’s own robotics team, Iron Devils, will host the event, while its rookie team, Mechanical Devils, competes.

Other participating teams include these:

  • Dead Voltage from The Tech Center at Putnam-NorthernWestchester BOCES, Yorktown Heights.
  • Robocracy from Robocracy 4-H Club, Yorktown Heights.
  • Team Fusion from Suffern Senior High School, Suffern.
  • Nuts & Volts from Suffern Senior High School, Suffern.
  • The Alphabots from Riverside High School, Yonkers.
  • Xeno Gaels from John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, Somers.
  • The Robomaniacs, a neighborhood group, Pleasantville.
  • W-Prime Robotics from W-Prime Robotics in Westport, Conn.
Saturday's challenge was birthed by a collaborative effort between Peekskill’s Technology Department, the high school Science Department, the Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES Robotics Program and the FIRST organization.

Teams that qualify in this challenge will be eligible to move on to the FIRST Tech Challenge’s Hudson Valley Regional Championship on Sunday, Feb. 5, at Pace University’s Pleasantville campus.

To learn more about FIRST, click here.

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