Washington, April 24 (CNA) Several Taiwanese teams won accolades in the recent FIRST Championship, a U.S. youth robotics competition, for their achievements and ingenuity in robotics and engineering.
Seven Taiwanese teams took part in the competition, with three taking home accolades or recognitions -- a delegation from the National Nanke International Experimental High School (NNKIEH), the "Tai-botics" team, and "BlockPlanet Shining Parrot," a partnership of two elementary school students.
The championship was held in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas between April 20 and April 23.
According to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston, Taiwan's representative office in Texas, the team from NNKIEH competed against 453 teams from around the world in the FIRST Robotics Competition and took home the Quality Award in recognition of the functionality of their robot.
Other schools that also competed in the category included Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School and Kaohsiung Municipal Chung-Cheng Industrial High School, which both achieved notable placements.
The other two winning Taiwanese teams competed in the FIRST Lego League, which challenges the engineering prowess of youths using the eponymous Danish bricks toy.
Tai-botics competed in the league's Challenge conference for preteens and teens between the ages of 9 and 16, while BlockPlanet Shining Parrot competed in the Explore conference for children from 6 to 10.
According to Taiwan's Houston office, Tai-botics won first prize for robot design and second prize for robot performance.
Meanwhile, BlockPlanet Shining Parrot took home the Most Explosive Award for their eye-catching team poster.
The Houston office's Director-General Robert Lo (羅復文) visited the Taiwanese delegation and delivered praise from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) to the teams for their hard works and achievements.
Organized annually by "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST)," a global robotics community for youths, the competition is held to celebrate the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) aptitude of young people around the world.
