Windham Windup Nets Regional Victory, Heads to St. Louis

The Windham High School F.I.R.S.T Robotics team, Windham Windup, has advanced to the F.I.R.S.T World Championship in St. Louis, Mo. after coming in first at the regional competition this weekend.

The Pine Tree Regional Competition, which took place in Lewiston, Maine, was the site of the squad's first regional win.

At this year's event, the challenge was called "Ultimate Ascent." The robot was rquired to score points by shooting Frisbee-like disks into elevated goals, climbing a metal pyramid and dodging the defense of the opposing alliance team.

Along with coming in first, Windham's Team 3467 also was recognized by receiving the Excellence in Engineering award.

On Sunday, the team posted remarks from the judges on their Facebook page:

The Engineering Excellence Award sponsored by Delphi celebrates an elegant and advantageous machine feature. The team that wins this award must be able to describe as well as demonstrate the chosen machine feature.

This award is given to a well-designed machine with unique features, built by students from CAD through construction and programming.

Their machine is clean, highly serviceable, with many easily swapped replacement parts. Even more impressive is that their machine is able to wind up on the third bar of the pyramid completely under software control.

Congratulations to Team 3467 The Windham Windup, Veloxion/BAE Systems/jcpenney and Windham High School from Windham, New Hampshire.

The F.I.R.S.T World Championship is set to take place in the Edward Jones Dome from April 24 to April 27. The stadium is known for housing the St. Louis Rams.

The Windham team is in its third year of competition, and is led by WHS Engineering and Technology teacher Scott Kukshtel.

Sponsors and donations help defray the operations and travel costs, and those interested can contact Kukshtel at skukshtel@windhamhighschool.org