On Saturday, Jan. 30th, the Greenville Middle School VEX Robotics Team, the Gigabots, entered eight robots in the Garland Texas VEX Robotics Competition - Middle School at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland. The Gigabots had a historic weekend, earning a total of 10 awards in addition to having an all Greenville Alliance become Tournament Champions.

Team 2148A, made up of Josh Allen, Austin Burns, Alex Portillo, Daniel Ugalde and Luis Ugalde, won four awards, including being named Tournament Champion. They formed the number two alliance with GMS teams 2148D and 2148E to win the tournament. This was 2148A’s sixth tournament win this season. They also received the Think Award, given to a team that has developed and effectively used quality programs as part of their strategy to solve the game challenge, the Programing Skills Champion, which is earned by the top ranked team in the VRC Programming Skills Challenge, and were the Robot Skills Finalist, which is given to the second ranked team in the VRC Robot Skills Challenge.

Team 2148D, whose members are Jayce Dickeson, Corbin Hudgins, Corbin Row, Dulce Romero and Francisca Gutierrez, finished the qualification rounds in third place. They joined 2148A and 2148E to become the tournament champion and earned the Build Award, given to a team that has built a well-crafted and constructed robot that also shows a clear dedication to safety and attention to detail.

Team 2148E, whose team members are Dallas Davies, Noah Stone, Faith Clayton, Nick Stromberg and Kegan Rios, joined 2148A and 2148D to become tournament champions as well as receiving the Innovate Award, given to a team that has demonstrated a strong combination of ingenuity and innovation in designing their VEX robot.

Team 2148H, whose team members are Elijah Wofford, Clay Gibson, Jonathan Hernandez, Caleb Johnson and Sistanas Stretch, joined team 7504 , the Horesman, from the Austin Academy for Excellence in Garland and Team 400Z,  Zulu Nightmare, from Galveston to form the number one alliance.  They were Tournament Finalists finishing the tournament in second place.

Team 2148B, whose team members are Ben Butcher, Jacob Linden, Sam Martin, Matthew McFarland and Landon Fry Rowland, won the Create Award, given to a team whose robot design incorporates a creative engineering solution to the design challenges of this season’s game.

As Tournament Champions, Team 2148A, 2148D and 2148E have qualified for the North Texas VEX Nothing But Net Middle School Regional Championship in Greenville on February 27, 2016 and the CREATE U. S. Open Robotics Championship – VEX Middle School Division in Council Bluffs, Iowa beginning April 7, 2016.

For additional information about the Greenville Middle School VEX Robotics Program, email Johnny Tharp, Director of Robotics (Grades 1-8) at tharpjr@greenvilleisd.com or call (903) 408-4432.