Clarkson University's FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 229, “Division By Zero,” won the inaugural New York Tech Valley Regional held March 13 to 15, its sixth regional FRC win since 1998.

Part of Clarkson’s nationally recognized Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design (SPEED) program, FRC Team 229 consists of high school students from the Massena and Salmon River Central school districts mentored by Clarkson undergraduate students from a variety of majors.

The three-day event included practice, qualification and double elimination matches between three-on-three robot alliances competing in a game, called Arial Assist, that required teams to pass exercise balls down a 24-by-54-foot field and shoot them into goals at the field ends.

After taking part in 12 qualification matches, Team 229 was invited join an alliance with Team 1126 from Webster and Team 20 from Clifton Park for the double elimination matches. The resulting alliance used the strengths of each robot and some great team work to win all but one of their elimination matches on their way to victory.

As a result its regional win, Team 229 has been invited to participate in the FRC World Championship in St Louis, Mo., on April 23 to 26.