Robotics teams from all over Ohio coming to Van Wert

These seven Van Wert senior robotics students are (left to right): Jeff Li, Stephen Bowers, Kenton McComas, Abbie Mengerink, Clayton Mosier, Aubrey Mandeville and Dierks Knoch. Photo submitted

VW independent staff/submitted information

Next Friday, January 27, two dozen robotics teams from around the state will converge on Van Wert High School for the annual Robotics Competition, where inspections and judging will take place.

Beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, January 28, competitions will take place in the Van Wert High School gymnasium throughout the day, with the top four ranked teams moving onto the elimination rounds once the round-robin matches are complete. The event is free and open to the public of all ages and runs from approximately 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Van Wert Robotics program has been the Northwest Ohio FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) regional qualifier for six years. This year, Van Wert High School will field three FTC teams - FTC Team 5501, FTC 14174 and FTC 20116 - with coaches Bob Spath, Noah Carter, and Marty Hohman.

"We are very excited to be back to max capacity with the number of teams competing," Spath said. "These three FTC teams that compete with the smaller robots will combine into one large team as we spend the next eight weeks designing, building and testing our FRC big robot."

This event and the Van Wert Robotics team would not be possible without generous funding provided by grants and donations from the following businesses and organizations:

The Van Wert County Foundation, Alliance Automation, Central Insurance, Gene Haas Foundation, 1st Federal of Van Wert, Van Wert Federal, Ohio Northern University, Tenneco, Vancrest, Walmart, Citizens National Bank, StateWide Ford, Agrauxine, and Kenn-Feld Group.

Van Wert Robotics Club is a club that meets after school at Van Wert High School.