Robot Designed By Maplewood Kids Wins First Place in Essex County

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — An underdog robotics team from Columbia High School in Maplewood — consisting of one sophomore and two eighth graders — recently won first place in a countywide competition.

On Saturday, team 4102 (a.k.a. The CHS Cougars) of the Columbia High School Robotics Team took home the grand prize at the FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey Essex County League Tournament, Robo-CATastrophe. The event was held at South Orange Middle School.

The CHS Cougars "have been perfecting their robot since September, continually breaking it down and building it back up again, as well as honing their 'driving' skills," noted a spokesperson.

The team beat out 12 others from Essex County.

The team won a series of contests that day and captured the grand prize in their 11th match of the day.

The team will now head to The FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey State Championship (The Garden State Rumble), to be held at 11 a.m. on March 15 at Columbia High School in Maplewood.

Joining them will be Columbia’s senior and junior robotics teams, both of which also qualified over recent weeks. Due to the growth of robotics in New Jersey, the number of teams invited to attend the state tournament has increased from 48 last year to 56 this year.

Nine teams will move on the world championship, to be held in April in Detroit.

The coaches of all of the Columbia robotics teams are Charlotte Arevalo and Doug Huebner.

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