Wilmington’s world famous youth robotics team took home their first win of this season this past weekend. The Miracle Workers, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics team 365, from Wilmington, Delaware competed in the first competition of the 2020 FIRST season, which was held in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. After qualification matches, the team ranked #1 of 36 teams and only lost one match in the playoff tournament.
The Miracle Workers, also known as MOE, have been competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition for 21 years. Based out of DuPont’s headquarters, the team was started to inspire local high school aged students to pursue STEM based careers. In 2007, the team won the prestigious Chairman’s Award at the World Championships for their work in helping improve reading literacy throughout the state of Delaware and by growing the different FIRST programs: FIRST Lego League Jr., FIRST Lego League (FLL), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). Because of this, the team is pre-qualified for the Championship event, which is held in Houston, Texas in mid-April. Teams from over 30 countries will come to compete in all four programs that weekend.
Follow MOE’s season via The Blue Alliance by clicking here. The next event the team will compete in is the Seneca District event in Tabernacle, New Jersey from March 20th to the 22nd. FRC team 365 is sponsored by DuPont, JP Morgan Chase, On-Board Engineering, The Boeing Company, Corteva, Chemours, Cyanco, Exelon, and First State Robotics.
More about FIRST.
FIRST is an international non-profit organization based in New Hampshire. Each year, FIRST comes up with a different game for high school students which is revealed the first weekend in January. Students have to build a complex, 120 pound robust robot to play the game. This year, the title sponsor is Star Wars: Force for Change and the game, called Infinite Recharge is set in the Star Wars universe. To understand this year’s game, watch the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmiYWTmFRVE
After 31 years, the youth focused organization has grown to four different levels of competition ranging from 2nd grade through 12th grade. Locally, FLL and FTC is run by First State Robotics, a 501(c)3.
The FIRST Robotics Competition is run locally by FIRST Mid-Atlantic. Delaware is part of the Mid-Atlantic District which includes New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. Teams from all over this area compete against each other in a district model. After two competitions, points are tallied and the top 60 teams move on to the District Championship. From there, only twenty one teams move on to the Championship event.
Get Involved
Interested in getting involved? Events are run entirely by volunteers and local teams need your help. If you want to get involved with competitions, reach out to First State Robotics or FIRST Mid-Atlantic.
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