Robotics whizzes whiz to big win

7/2/2003

Winning the Ohio SkillsUSA-VICA robotics and automation technology competition just wasn't enough for ambitious Toledo Technology Academy students Sarah Troutman and Matthew Cherry.

The robotics whizzes, who blew the competition away at the state championship in April, recently placed first at the national SkillsUSA-VICA championships. Their victory has earned them $20,000 each in college scholarships.

The championships took place over six days last week in Kansas City, Mo. The pair competed against teams from 27 other states in an eight-hour competition that involved designing, building, and programming a robot.

In spite of the breadth of the competition, the engineering wunderkinds and their teacher, Robert Sintobin, were undaunted.

“I was pretty confident even after the competition. The judges were surprised to see how well we did,” Matthew said.

In addition to the $20,000 scholarships, Sarah and Matthew each received an $8,000 engineering software package, and Toledo Technology Academy will receive a $40,000 networking package.

Sarah and Matthew are now eligible to compete at the illustrious, multinational SkillsWorld Championships, which will take place in Finland in 2005.