A local robotics team celebrated their world championship at the Capitol, Wednesday.

The Brighton FIRST Robotics team, known as the TechnoDogs, took first place in the international robotics competition held at the Cobo Center in Detroit, this past April. They led an alliance that included the ThunderChickens from Sterling Heights, SCH Vulcan Robotics from Philadelphia and Team Rembrandt from Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Wednesday, they were honored by State Senator Lana Theis, of Brighton Township, and her colleagues in Lansing. The team consists of 68 students and 35 mentors. For the world championships, teams work for 6 weeks building game-playing robots that perform Olympian-style tasks like scoring balls and flying discs into goals, hanging on bars, and navigating balance beams.

Senator Theis presented the team with a special tribute to honor and commemorate their achievement. She said it is an honor to recognize the TechnoDogs for their accomplishments, not only at the competition, but also in the classroom and community. Theis said it brings her great joy seeing so many students excited about STEM and that they are developing skills that will serve them throughout their careers. She said residents of the 22nd Senate district should be proud of the team, their coaches, the mentors, and the students’ parents. (MK)