LONG ISLAND CITY (PIX11) — Weighing just 115 pounds of mostly aluminum, sporting an extreme paint job and some serious LED lights, Based-God Trap Love is a one-of-a-kind robotic achievement.
It’s the creation of the RoboTigers, the robotics team from Queens Vocational and Technical High School in Long Island City.
The robot earned the team a win at the regional games in the annual First Robotics competition and now they’re moving on to the national championships.
Basically, it’s the Oscars for robotics.
“Robotics is so much,” explains teaching assistant and team mentor Peter Beninati. “You could just say robotics and people think of a little robot but its so much more than that. It’s about the students learning and coming in and getting an idea of what they want to do in the future.”
DONATE: HELP THE QV ROBOTIGERS GET TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP
One of those students, Udayan Tuthenklam, plans to use what he learned at Queens Voc. to help him land a job in the future.
“I want to actually study mechanical engineering in the future,” the senior told PIX11 News. “This applies a lot of what we’re actually doing here and in the field.”
Each year a challenge is given for the robot in competition. This year it was about recycling and the RoboTigers knocked it out of the park.
“We’re not only learning about everything that a robot does or engineering but we’re basically making friendships and learning a lot of new stuff at the same time,” junior Guadalupe Juarez said.
If you want to help the RoboTigers get to the championships, visit their GoFundMe page.
