At FIRST Tech Challenge, school students from all over the world design, assemble, and program robots under the guidance of experienced mentors in order to compete in a series of matches against other teams.
This year, St. Petersburg-based team Sputnik Original, guided by mentors from ITMO University, took third place in the Connect Award category. The award is presented for outstanding achievements in engagement with their local STEM community. The category included 256 teams that passed the national selection rounds in various countries. Members of Sputnik Original had designed and assembled their own robot, programmed it, and developed its game tactics.
The team consists of 13 members, all students of grades 7 to 11 from the robotics school of Lyceum No. 244. They are coached by the lyceum’s graduates, including three current ITMO Master’s students: Ilya Kutsyi, Mikhail Sladkov, and Dmitry Lukin.
Sputnik Original prepared for the contest throughout the entire school year by participating in various competitions and were named the absolute winner of FIRST Tech Challenge Italy Championship. During this time, the team also hosted workshops for other school students, organized events, and assembled new teams.
“Our win here at FIRST is a first for Russia. This is especially important for ITMO, as most of the team’s mentors are current students of our university. They share their experience, knowledge, and skills with the younger participants via practical assignments, project work, joint trips, and lectures. This way, a vertical connection is formed: university students learn to teach and manage projects, school students gain early access to high-quality education in engineering, and the university nurtures motivated and well-trained applicants. Thanks to this model, we get not just a successful team, but a real ecosystem for training future leaders in engineering,” explains Ilya Kutsyi, one of the team’s mentors and a student at ITMO’s Higher School of Engineering and Technology.
Right now, the team is starting to prepare for the next competition season as well as look for new mentors and sponsors. Its members have been invited to high-profile events in Europe and the US in summer, where they will get a chance to speak with the leaders in their field.
FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is an international championship in robotics where school teams from across the world assemble robots and compete in various tasks. Over 50,000 participants from over 70 countries – Canada, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Mexico, the USA, Italy, and others – take part in the competition every year.
