Teens prove creative as well as mechnical at state robotics competition at ECC

Teams with creative but fitting names - including Wormgear Warriors and STEMfer Fi - competed in the state robotics competition Saturday at Elgin Community College.

The FIRST Tech Challenge Illinois Championship tournament showcased robots developed and operated by teams composed of teens throughout Illinois.

Kyran Siddiqui, 17, of Oswego - part of the Round Cube team, whose members wore Rubiks Cube-style hats - has been a part of the program for 10 years.

"That was one of the greatest impacts in my life, becoming a leader and learning about what I need to do with my life," Siddiqui said. "After taking robotics through FIRST programs, I've now found my passion is to use engineering to help others, so this program is really the thing that helped me find that."

In the competition, two alliances (red and blue), each composed of two robot teams, played in areas that are 12-foot-square in size.

Most of the day was spent in a series of qualifying round matches played between randomly generated alliance teams to determine the top four seeded individual teams.

The top four individual teams select two others that they would like to join in forming an alliance for the elimination rounds matches. Curing the finals, two alliances vie for the title of winning alliance.