Harker middle and upper school VEX Robotics teams earned many awards competing in VEX Robotics Competition (also known as VEX VRC) events, beginning in October. VEX VRC is the largest and fastest growing robotics program in the world where teams compete in three areas: tournament-style, robot skills competition and judged awards.
The nine-month long season culminated with three important events: the Signature NorCal in February, the California Regional Championships (one held in Milpitas and another in Tracy) in March and the VEX Robotics World Championship (held in Dallas) in April.
Team 315B – composed of eighth graders Brandon Labio, Aaron Luo, Trisha Shivakumar and Nathan Yee – was a division finalist at the VEX World Championships and ranked second in its division among 81 teams. The team also finished 18th among 489 teams in Robot Skills at the VEX World Championships and won the Excellence Award (given to the team with best overall performance in the three competition areas) and was the Robot Skills champions at both the Middle School California Regional Championships in Milpitas and the NorCal Signature event. At local events, the team also won two Tournament Championships, two Robot Skills Championships and an Excellence Award. It finished ranked 16th out of 2,500 teams in the VEX Middle School World Skills Rankings.
Eighth graders Orion Ghai, Rohan Goyal and Krishna Muddu, also known as Team 315D , was a division semifinalist at the VEX Robotics World Championships and ranked ninth in its division, which included 82 teams. During the season, the team won two Tournament Championships, was a Tournament Finalist and won Robot Skills Championships at local events.
Composed of eighth graders Risa Chokhawala, Ayden Grover and Cole Uhlig, Team 14791R was a Tournament Semifinalist at the California Regional Championships in Tracy and qualified to the VEX World Championships. At local events, the team won one Tournament Championship, a Create Award and an Amaze award.
At the California Regional Championships in Milpitas, Team 315Y (senior Nidhya Shivakumar, junior Claire Su, and sophomores Kaitlyn Su and Kaitlyn Zhang from Stanford Online High School) won the three main awards – the Excellence Award, Robot Skills Championship and Tournament Championship – and qualified for the VEX World Championships. The team also won the Design Award at the NorCal Signature event. Over the course of the season, the team won five additional awards, including two Tournament Championships, one Excellence Award and two Design Awards at local events.
Team 315V, composed of juniors Sriram Bhimaraju, Zachary Blue and Jordan Labio, won the Excellence Award, placed second in Robot Skills and was a tournament semifinalist at the California Regional Championships, and qualified for the VEX World Championships where it finished eighth in its division out of 79 teams. Their season included Excellence Awards, two Robot Skills Championships, two Tournament Finalists awards and a Judges Award at local events.
Finally, Team 315S, comprising junior Bobby Costin and two students from other schools, was a Division Finalists at the VEX Robotics World Championships. The team’s season included two tournament championships, two tournament finals appearances, three Robot Skills Championships, one Design Award and two Think Awards, which are awarded to the team with best programming