Robots Stolen From Ranney School Robotics Program

TINTON FALLS, NJ — More than $30,000 worth of equipment from the robotics program at a Monmouth County prep school was stolen at the competition, the school says. The robotic gear was kept in a trailer when it was taken.

Students at the Ranney School in Tinton Falls, Millburn High School in Essex County and those involved in Robot Revolution after-school program in Summit all stored their gear in the trailer. The schools were headed to Louisville, Kentucky to compete in the 2017 VEX World Robotics Competition, a world tournament of robot building.

It was Summit-based Robot Revolution that offered to drive the equipment from all three schools to and from Kentucky. However, that trailer was stolen on the evening of April 22, in the middle of the tournament. It was stolen while it was parked near the competition in Kentucky, the school said.

Robot Revolution lost nine robots in all, a value of nearly $20,000. Millburn High lost one robot and Ranney’s teams lost three robots, as well as valuable parts, totaling around $12,000.

“We were beyond sad to lose our world-ranked robots, and most of our best tools and parts,” said Chiara Shah, the robotics club adviser at Ranney. “It was heart-breaking to see such loss after these kids had put in so much time and effort.”

Students usually spend months building their robots to compete, so the loss was devastating. However, the Robot Revolution students had new robot kits flown in, re-assembled their entries and the Summit team actually walked away with a Judges’ Award during the championship.

Insurance has covered approximately 25 to 50 percent of the losses incurred by the programs since the theft. However, one of the students from Robot Revolution set up this GoFundMe page to help cover their losses.