Tom Tolen / news@WHMI.com

Brighton High School's FIRST Robotics team won the Excellence in Engineering award at a district competition in Saline last weekend. FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology."

36 schools entered the competition. According to the FIRST Robotics website, the Excellence in Engineering award is given to “the team that demonstrates a professional approach to the design process.”

The tournament was ultimately won by “Alliance 3” - made up of teams from Ann Arbor Skyline High School, Clinton High School, and Manchester Junior and Senior High School. That team qualified for the state tournament, which is being held this weekend at Saginaw Valley State University.

In 2019, the TechnoDogs finished first in the world at the FIRST Robotics world championships in Detroit, but in 2020 and ’21, the seasons were canceled due to the COVID pandemic. Last year, the team qualified for the world championships at Houston but ultimately were unable to go due to unforeseen circumstances.

The TechnoDogs have 36 members from eighth grade through twelfth grade. In describing their robot, nicknamed “heavy metal”, Coach Nicholas Sikma says the bot was designed to have a low center of gravity and high maneuverability with a swerve drive specialty drive train. Sikma said, "It can achieve all aspects of gameplay from picking pieces from a human player platform or off the ground and delivering them across the field to all three levels of the grid.”

With the season now over, Sikma says the next step for the TechnoDogs is to get ready for next season. He says they may hold an off-season tournament and plan to utilize the new BHS STEAM Center machine shop “more effectively and continually improve (the team’s) design and build skills.” They also plan to build a permanent build-space and design a full-size practice field.

Sikma calls it “extremely tough to go from being on top of the world to not competing. Regardless, Sikma says he is “extremely proud of all the students that participate. The amount of effort they put in, on top of their school work, is world-class. They are not afraid to take on challenges and overcome obstacles.”