Boyce Robotics Team Advances To World Championship

UPPER ST. CLAIR, PA - Boyce Middle School's Gear Grinders performed like a well-oiled machine in winning the 2019 Vex IQ Pennsylvanian Robotics Championship at Keystone Oaks High School recently. In addition to winning the tournament, the team earned the Teamwork Champion Award and the Excellence Award, the competition's highest honor.

The team – comprised of sixth graders Owen Bell, Ian Dvorin, Ryan Hyatt, Rohan Mehta and Carlee Santel – now advances to the Vex IQ World Championship, which is set for April 28-30, 2019, at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, KY. The Gear Grinders will compete against 400 middle school teams from throughout the world.

In addition to their robot, the team participated in a STEM research project with math as the focus. Using Fortnite as an example, the team demonstrated how math is used in artificial intelligence and machine learning. At their station, they had demonstrations of AI robots, Cozmo and Vector, along with math lessons for tournament participants.

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