[caption id="attachment_21634" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo courtesy SUNY PolytechnicPictured is the SUNY Polytechnic robotics team who placed first this past weekend for their work. Bottom row from left to right: Mathew Nerber, Jarod Bialek, Justin Melnitsky, Roman Brutsky. Middle row from left to right: Mathew Kolmer, Ben Weiss, Aidan Uvanni, Jason Martino, Dave Nopany, Nick Kopyt, Meral Evke, Arda Perkis, Vladimir Omelko. Back row from left to right: Andrew Nerber, Dominick Ferone, Kurreem Williams, Joel Ferrigno, Jesse Conklin.[/caption]

Students from SUNY Polytechnic Institute bested 65 other competitors – taking first place - at New York City’s Javitz Center the weekend of March 12, to advance to the world championship in a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team.

The team, known as The Second Mouse or FRC 5030, was selected out of an international field of 3,000 teams for inclusion in the book, “First Robots: Behind the Design” featuring what the authors call, “exemplars: a collection of the finest designs and teams in the 2015 FIRST Robotics Competition” according to SUNY Poly spokesman Jerry Gretzinger.

“This year we set some very ambitious goals for ourselves. We established an aggressive timeline for completing our robot and not only succeeded but built one well enough to take us to the world championships. This is my seventh year on an FRC team and I feel like we’ve worked really hard and have grown and improved our skills. We’re thrilled to have our efforts recognized by the authors of the book,” said Ben Weiss, SUNY Poly mentor and a founding member of The Second Mouse FRC team.

“I’ve also learned a lot about leadership qualities and having to work with others. It’s something that will be used in the real world and you really get a lot of that experience here. I’m really proud of the work our team has done this year and am looking forward to the championship round” said Nick Kopyt, a senior at New Hartford High School and member of The Second Mouse team.

The team - made up of SUNY Poly undergraduate students working as mentors to high school students from Whitesboro, New Hartford, and Utica - is now preparing for the FRC World Championships April 27-30 in St. Louis, Missouri where it will face off against hundreds of international competitors.

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