ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú

ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University’s Millett Hall has been home to Division I basketball games, commencement ceremonies, stand-up comedy performances, and fashion shows – but on Feb. 15, spectators and competitors will be going “into the deep” to experience something entirely new.

INTO THE DEEP℠ presented by RTX is the name of this year’s FIRSTⓇ Tech Challenge (FTC), now in its 2024-2025 season sponsored by Qualcomm. Each year, FIRSTⓇ Tech participants embark on a themed game, competing in an alliance format of red and blue teams while also placing individually as teams. In this year’s challenge, seventh through 12th graders will operate robots they’ve built from a reusable platform, powered by Android technology and coded with Java-based programming. 

For many teams headed to ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s Millett Hall on Feb. 15, this isn’t their first time competing in the arena. Last year, local teams like , , and competed against 24 other middle and high school teams from across Ohio in the 2023-2024 season regional tournament at Millett Hall. Many of the teams will make a repeat showing at this year’s event, along with fresh faces and younger students replacing those who have graduated.

Watch the video above to learn the rules of this year’s “Into the Deep” season game.

This year’s competition comes with a fresh new theme, “Into the Deep,” which involves a human-robot collaboration element (reminiscent of the collaborative “co-bot” technology on display in ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University’s own ). Working together, human players and robots will work to place as many “specimens” from the central “submersible” structure into tiered baskets, amassing points which will be scored to determine team and alliance standings. Learn more about the game and points system, as well as rules and regulations for players, in the short video above.

The new theme and game isn’t the only thing different about this year’s tournament at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú. This year, it will be led and organized by ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University College of Engineering and Computing (CEC)'s new assistant director of K-12 outreach, Allison Sommers. “I’m so excited to lead this year’s tournament, with help and support from volunteers which include faculty, staff, and students from the College of Engineering and Computing,” Sommers said. “As a team, we’re supporting these young engineers and computer scientists as they work together to solve problems, adjust their code, build and rebuild their robots, and learn incredible hands-on robotics skills.”

Beena Sukumaran, the Dinesh and ILA Paliwal Dean of the College of Engineering and Computing, is equally enthusiastic about the event. “I am consistently impressed by the FIRSTⓇ Tech Competition students. Their 'gracious professionalism,' the competition's core value, shines through in everything they do," Sukumaran said. "Their designs are remarkably ingenious, showcasing their boundless creativity. I'm thrilled to be part of this event again this year."

The FIRSTⓇ Tech Challenge tournament at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University is free to all spectators and open to the public. Learn more about the details of the event (including live streaming information), and watch the video below to catch some of the action from last year’s event.

View this post on Instagram