Three Cavan students to compete in national robotics competition

This Tuesday (February 24) marks a historic milestone for Cavan as Breifne College becomes the first school in the county to compete at the VEX Robotics V5 National Championships.

Taking place at MTU Cork, VEX Robotics is an international competition that challenges teams to design, build and programme a robot to compete in a game that changes each year.

This year’s challenge, 'Pushback', sees alliances of two robots compete head-to-head, scoring their team’s coloured balls into a series of elevated goals in a fast-paced, highly strategic contest.

Representing Breifne College are Cillian Duignan, Danyl Quinn and Tara O’Reilly, under the guidance of their mentor, Mr Keating. The team began work on their robot last September and have since competed in four regional competitions, twice in Donegal, once in Galway and in Tullamore. Their dedication and perseverance have paid off: they reached the final in three of those events, narrowly missing out on victory each time.

Their consistent performance has secured them 7th place nationally in the highly competitive skills category, where teams compete individually to score as many points as possible within one minute. This impressive ranking has earned them a place at next week’s National Championships.

From the national event, seven teams will qualify to represent Ireland at the World Championships in Missouri, USA. Heading into the competition, Breifne College stands among the top contenders to qualify.

Breifne College continues to establish itself as a leader in STEM education. In addition to the senior team’s success, the school has recently launched three Junior VEX teams with the support of CMETB and hopes to see them competing next year.

As the school looks to further develop its robotics programme, the team welcomes support from any local businesses interested in sponsoring this exciting initiative.