The Krypton Cougars ended their season on a high note with a phenomenal appearance at the 2022 FIRST World Championships.
The competition was held April 20-23 in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center, where six playing fields were setup. There, the Cougars competed against more than 450 other teams, drawn from the 4,000 teams across the country that built robots this year to vie for a championship spot.
Read More: Palmyra-based robotics squad Krypton Cougars headed to Texas for nationals
The Cougars ended up on the #1 Alliance in the preliminary Turing Division competition (named after the famous English mathematician and computer scientist), ranking #14 out of 75 teams in the division with a 7-3 record. Although they didn’t rank in the top eight teams and end up as an alliance captain, they were picked to join the #1 alliance and join teams from Israel, California, and Maryland. The alliance swept the playoffs in the Turing Division with a 6-0 record and earned a spot in the Einstein Field tournament where they competed against the best alliances from the other divisions.
Although the Turing alliance led the semifinals, they lost in the finals to the Galileo Division alliance – but not without putting up a strong fight and taking the match to a tiebreaker round.
The Krypton Cougars ended their season with an overall record of 52-16, the best in the team’s 15-year history.
Although this marks the end of regular season competition for the squad, the team will continue meeting off-season to improve their robot and provide new opportunities at off-season competitions to rising students who will take over the controls from graduating seniors.
FIRST is an organization founded by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen to help young people discover the excitement and rewards of science and technology and have fun doing it. Among Kamen’s inventions are the Segway, the Auto Syringe, and the iBOT Wheelchair.
The Cougars were sponsored by TE Connectivity, Comcast NBCUniversal, H.R. Weaver Building Systems, Hershey Chocolate, First Davis Mechanical, Candoris, 1825 Inn Bed & Breakfast, Miller Bixler NAPA, Finkenbinder Funeral Homes, C&D Rigging, and Hershey and Palmyra high schools.
Woefling said the team is always looking to grow. New members, mentors, and sponsors are invited to reach out for details. The team meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. throughout the year, but convenes more frequently during competition season.
For more information about the Krypton Cougars, visit the team’s website or Facebook page, or contact them via email at kryptoncougars2539@gmail.com.
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