Romanian high schoolers win gold medal at top robotics competition in Russia

A team of seven students from several Bucharest high schools received the gold medal at the FIRST Russia Robotics Championship, a top science and technology event held in the Russian Federation.

The Romanian team, titled AutoVortex, qualified for the event after the finals of the Regional Robotics Championship, held in St. Petersburg in December 2019, Startupcafe.ro reported.

The seven high schoolers also take part in the robotics program BRD FIRST Tech Challenge Romania.

The team is made up of Stan Andrei, Pitic Gabriel, Cudrici Dimitrie, Grădinaru Alexandru and Ștefan Roșca, who are students at the Tudor Vianu National College of Informatics, Dunuta Andrei, a student at the Sf. Sava National College, and Vasile Theodor, a student at the Ion Neculce National College.

The team was coordinated by Panea Ionuț Valentin, an assistant professor of finance at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.

The seven students built and programmed two robots that played successfully all the qualifying matches and, in the finals, formed the alliance that competed against the best two Russian teams. The Romanian alliance AutoVortex won the finals.

The AutoVortex team also received the Innovate Award for the most ingenious and technically advanced robot.

Following the win, the Romanian team was invited to represent the country at the Robotics Championship in Maryland, in June of this year.

AutoVortex is to play in the regional qualifying rounds in Bucharest at the BRD FIRST Tech Challenge Romania event, to be held between March 20 and March 22.

(Photo: AutoVortex Romania Facebook Page)