The winning Israeli team at the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition. Photo: Reuven Stahl.

JNS.org – A group of students from the southern Israeli city of Yeruham won the top prize at the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition, held in Chicago last week.

The Israeli team—which calls itself the “Y Team” and comprises some 30 students for the Yeruham Sci-Tech school—was represented by Racheli Amar (10th grade), Itai Seif (9th grade), and their mentor, Reuven Stahl.

Competitors in this year’s competition were asked to build and program an 18-inch by 18-inch robot that would pick up scattered whiffle balls and place them in tubes of varying heights of up to 35 inches. The robot had to move autonomously for 30 seconds, after which the team could control it for two minutes.

The Israeli team developed a creative solution—a robot that holds the tallest tube, which provides the highest points, and suctions the balls in.