For the first time in history, two Romanian teams reached the finals of the FIRST Robotics World Championship in the USA and played against each other, fighting for the ultimate title
The AICitizens team from the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” National College (Focșani) won the title of World Champion, together with two other teams chosen from California and South Africa. The Ro2D2 team from “Mihai Viteazul” National College (Ploiesti), Alliance Captain, chose partners from Australia and Canada, with whom they became world vice-champions. At the same time, AICitizens received 1st Place at the Design Award and the Ro2D2 team also received 1st Place at the CONTROL Award.
The Romanian delegation at the World Robotics Championship FIRST Tech Challenge Houston was formed by 4 teams qualified at the BRD FIRST Tech Challenge National Championship (teams from Câmpulung, Focșani, Galați and Ploiesti). In addition to the four teams, the 4 finalists of the prestigious Dean’s List AWARD (Daria Ștefania Istrate – Ploiesti, Rareș Tudor Palasan – Bucharest, Andra-Gabriela Cîrstoiu – Târgu-Jiu and Eva Pacea – Brăila) also went to Houston.
The results of all 4 teams are exceptional, practically the Romanians being noticed everywhere in the championship. From 2022 until now, the results obtained by the Romanian FTC robotics teams are more and more highly rated and visible. In 2022 Delta Force from Arad won the World Championship also in Houston, being the first outside of North America to achieve such a result.
The premiere offered by this year’s performance is that two Romanian teams reach the title of World Champion, the final matches being played by Romania against Romania.
“This robotics competition was invented in the United States 35 years ago. We have been doing robotics in high schools in Romania for 8 years, we Nation through Education. Do you realize what children we have in this country if after 8 years we ended up playing Romania against Romania in the world final in Houston? I am so proud of them!”
Dana Rábosiu, founder of of the Nation Through Education association.
“The Romanian high school students showed us again this year what it means to be an ambassador of your country through their dedication, passion, intelligence and fair play. They are living proof that we can always do higher and better if we join forces and that constant investment in education changes paradigms. What we only dared to dream of 8 years ago has become a reality and another fabulous one: hundreds of teams throughout Romania, over 15,000 high school students and world champions of the competition from America. We, those from BRD, will continue with joy and gratitude to support the young people in Romania and urge them to invest in their personal development. We congratulate everyone from the First Tech Challenge teams, mentors, teachers and parents, and we are grateful for the energy that the high school robotics community in Romania exudes. Young people like those in the robotics competition are a vector for change and we are optimistic about the future through their eyes”
Flavia Popa, General Secretary of BRD Groupe Société Générale
FIRST Tech Challenge Romania is the largest robotics competition dedicated to high schools in Romania. It is organized by the association Nation through Education, in partnership with BRD and is affiliated to the international organization FIRST.
Robotics is one of the most important fields of the future for Romania, to which attention has been directed more and more, especially in recent years. Since 2016, since BRD joined the Nation through Education initiative, thousands of students, teachers and mentors have benefited from this experience, which combines STEAM education, entrepreneurship and robotics, forming a faster bridge to a better, more sustainable future. It’s not just about technology and robots, but a formative experience that helps young people develop crucial communication and social skills that give them more opportunities to build a career.
