At last month’s Carrender Robotics/COIL VEX IQ Tournament, held in Fremont, seventh grade robotics enthusiasts Zachary Blue, Adrian Liu, Vivek Nayyar, Kabir Ramzan and Om Tandon received the VEX IQ Challenge’s Excellence Award, the highest honor awarded by the competition. Potential recipients of the award are judged by criteria such as performance in event challenges, robot design and the ability of the team’s robot to drive autonomously. The “Dream Team,” as the students call themselves, have secured a spot at the CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Championship, set to take place in April.

The team also entered the STEM Project competition, winning first place for an app that helps students manage their time while simultaneously informing teachers about how much time is required to finish homework assignments. In developing the project, the students sought insight from professionals at Google, Khan Academy and Stanford University.