East Hampton High School’s Bonac Bots did even better than first thought in their first-ever robotics competition at Hofstra University from March 18 to 21 — the aptly named FIRST Competition. The Bots finished 15th out of 48, a notable achievement for the new kids on the bots block, but they had no idea they’d done so well until a few days after the tournament, originally thinking they had come in 27th.
“Apparently, FIRST rankings include points for awards and even some for being a rookie,” said Urban Reininger, the high school’s computer science and coding teacher who mentors the Bonac Bots. “Who knew? Rookie mistake!”
The Bonac Bots built a robot named the Claminator that can intake balls and shoot them at a target to score points. The Claminator competed in nine qualification matches, winning four and losing five, which ranked Bonac 27th out of 48 teams. They also won the Rookie All-Star award, which boosted their standings, giving them a total of 30 event points and a 15th-place finish, ranking them in the top third of the competition.