GIFFIN, Inc. proudly sponsored the IRC branch of Utica Schools 2016 robotic team #217, aptly named the ThunderChickens. This program was developed to bring young men and women together, to develop the skills necessary to build a working robot, that was used in this year’s FIRST competition called Stronghold. The students must build and program a robot that is able to maneuver over defenses and launch boulders into opponent’s towers to score points for the alliance. Based on the performance of the ThunderChickens at the Michigan State meet, they were able to qualify for the World competition held this past April in St. Louis, Missouri. This event featured over 600 teams from China, Germany, Spain, Australia, Israel and many more countries from around the world, as well as different states in the U.S. The team leader ThunderChicken’s, along with two alliance partners from Ontario, Canada and a fourth from California, won their respective Division comprised of over 75 teams. Their alliance went on to finish fifth in the world!
