Robotics Begins Worlds

Three teams consisting of 14 students departed for Dallas, Texas, for the 2024 VEX Robotics World Championship in a bid to conquer the 819-team field.

The competition begins on Thursday, with elimination rounds kicking off on Saturday.

Team 343X, consisting of Nathan Denton ’24, Teddy Lee ’25, and Andrew Liu ’25, have been to Worlds three times, and are the leaders of St. Albans program. Ranked #40 in the world, the team fell one victory short of making it to the finals of last year’s championships.

They’re joined by Team 343B: Alex Acosta ’25, Alex Kiser ’25, Connor Leyden ’24, Thaddeus Leiphart ’24, Ned Markham ’24, and Zach Tescher ’25, and Team 343K: Tyler Barren ’26, Willem Cohn ’26, Andrew Denton ’26, Alexandru Dragoi ’26, and Harrison Kintz ’27.

Under the lead of Mr. Doug Errett, the teams head to Texas with more than 400 hours of labor poured into their robots, eager to put their hard work to the test.

Schools from across the globe, ranging from as far as Australia and Japan, to as near as Mexico and Canada, will take to the floor in competition. 

Given the nature of a robotics competition, in which teams partner with a competitor for every event, there is a chance that the teams might end up partnering with a school from another country — regardless of language barrier. Students, often huddled together over phones and using translator apps to communicate, work together to achieve their goal.

Best of luck to the Robodogs, and stay tuned for updates on their performance!