RoboKai, the Fenwick Robotics Team, won the state championship in March, qualifying for the world championships to be held April 20-23 in Houston! What’s even more impressive than their state championship victory is that RoboKai is ranked second – IN THE WORLD!  

It has been a long journey for the team. In the weeks leading up to the regional qualifier and the state championship competitions, they worked multiple 10+ hour days, resulting in hundreds of hours of preparation. The team’s first event this year was the regional qualifier in February; all earlier events were canceled due to COVID-19.

Obviously, the team’s hard work and dedication has paid off.

Besides winning the Ohio FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship, the team won the Innovate Award (sponsored by Raytheon Technologies) for bringing great ideas from concept to reality. Team member Nate Ubbelohde was also named a Dean’s List Semifinalist. Students who earn Dean’s List Award status are great examples of student leaders who have led their teams and communities to increased awareness for FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and its mission.

In the Ohio Wright Qualifier in March – the regional qualifier – the team finished in first place. They were also awarded the Control Award (sponsored by ARM, Inc.) for mastering robot intelligence.

Heading into the world championships, Robo Kai was ranked first in the state and second in the world rankings, out of:

• 8,000 teams
• 88,000 members
• 100 plus countries
• 3,000 scholarships from 200 providers totaling 80 million.

The team is only in its second year. In 2021, RoboKai finished second in the state.

The Fenwick team is composed of Nate Ubbelohde ‘23, Burke Melzer ‘24, Aiden Povse ‘24, Jake Yingling ’24, Andrew Adams ’24, and Oliver Tebbe ’25, and is coached and mentored by Chandler Anthony and Nick Ubbelohde.