West Morris Robotics Teams Among The Best At World Championships

CHESTER, NJ — Both robotics teams from West Morris Regional tested their minds and machines against hundreds of other high school teams at this year's VEX Robotics World Championship. And both teams placed in the top 5 percent of competitors, the school district said.

Robotics teams from across the world participate in VEX programs on a local level throughout the year, from elementary school through college.

Each team designs, builds, and codes their robot for a certain competitive game each year. Then, teams and their robots compete against each other in events, and also submit their technical journals to judges.

This year's game was a type of soccer, said West Morris Central teacher Justin Maier, who is one of the team's advisors.

West Morris Robotics' Team Legacy and Team Ingenuity scored high enough in the New Jersey state championship in March to advance to the top level of competition, held in Dallas, Texas.

The weekend- long world championships brought together elite student teams from around the world at all levels.

At the high school level, Team Legacy was among the top 2 percent in the world in Skills, and the top 4 percent in Competition. They finished 256th in the world in Skills out of 820 team, and placed 61st in their division.

Team Ingenuity advanced to the quarterfinals, and ended up among the top 1 percent of teams worldwide in both Competition and Skills. They finished their run at 152nd in the world in Skills, and 14th in their division.