ILITE Robotics Team is a Triple Crown Winner!

A local high school robotics team wins Triple Crown!!!! Battlefield High School, located in Haymarket, Virginia, has an after school robotics team named ILITE (Inspiring Leaders in Technology and Engineering). ILITE is Team #1885, and part of an international program called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), founded by Segway inventor, Dean Kamen. www.firstinspires.org FIRST consists of over 7000 registered teams from 27 countries. FIRST is broken down to many districts and FIRST Chesapeake District covers teams from Maryland, DC, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Chesapeake District held its championship games this past weekend at University of Maryland Xfinity Center. Games are played with alliances made up of three teams (Team #1885, Team #384, and Team #422), and ILITE’s alliance started at the lowest seed and surpassed all other teams to win the tournament! ILITE not only won the tournament, they also won the Chairman’s Award which is the most prestigious award given to the team that best represents the tenets and ideals of FIRST. The third crown represents being highest in ranking in the Chesapeake District, out of hundreds of teams. These achievements have earned their spot to compete at the World Championship games held in Detroit, MI. on April 25-28, 2018. ILITE will compete with 600+ teams that qualified from all over the world.

This is huge!!! ILITE has worked tirelessly for past 13 years to get to this point. They are working hard to bring home the top award at this year’s World Championship games.

ILITE is composed of approximately 70 students who take part in annual robotics competitions to create, build and program a robot from scratch, then test and field a fully functioning, mobile robot specifically designed to overcome obstacles, navigate barriers, and perform tasks during head-to-head competitions on a special playing field. The team is run by students and operates like a business, and has sub-teams such as Programming, Electronics, Build, Graphic Design, Sponsorship, Web Design, and Outreach. The students employ 3-D printing to fabricate certain robot parts, and employ Computer Aided Design to model and test the robot concept.

While building a competitive robot is the goal of the sport, building good citizenship and becoming an example for others is the true goal and purpose of FIRST. ILITE, widely known and recognized for their community efforts and youth outreach, has won the Chairman’s Award eleven times; including being honored as a Hall of Fame finalist at the FIRST World Championships in 2017!

What ILITE does for the Northern Prince William County community is amazing. Each year, they host robotics tournaments, judge Science Fairs at local elementary schools, tutor local elementary students in the field of Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM), and volunteer with Toys for Tots, Coat Drives, Haymarket Food Drives, and feeding the homeless in our nation’s capital. Each summer, they offer STEM camps to elementary, middle, and high school students. Camps include Cyber Defense, building Lego robots, 3-D Printing, Girls in STEM, Java, and Sea-Perch (underwater robots). Local activities they participate in include the Kindness Campaign, Walk For Autism, Payton’s Walk, and Youth For Tomorrow. ILITE has even visited Capitol Hill to advocate for STEM and represented FIRST at a US Senate’s “Congressional STEM Direction for America” summit and to the Department of Commerce. ILITE has also helped launch and mentor over 70 other robotics teams. Globally, ILITE has also worked with less fortunate students in Haiti, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Bolivia, and Liberia by sending robot kits and tutoring students via Skype.

Check out their website for future events and camp information: http://www.ilite.us