NORWICH – Members of the Chenango County FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Team have reason to celebrate after their efforts earned them high honors in what FIRST founders call “the hardest fun ever.”

The Chenango FIRST Robotics Team placed second overall during the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition held in Rochester earlier this month; a tournament that hailed students from a total 49 schools across five different states and Canada. To beat out competitors, the Chenango County team (Team 145) put in more than 2,500 man hours to develop a robot – dubbed “Rex” by team members – that could accurately toss a frisbee into different targets at various distances. The undertaking called for six weeks of long hours and hard work, but ultimately paid off in the end, according to students.

“We all pulled together and made a really good robot this year,” said NHS senior and FIRST Team Captain Dyllon Robinson. Team 145, which consists of students from Norwich and Sherburne-Earlville high schools, put on a good show, losing by only a single point in the end. “That’s a pretty close game,” he added.

Robinson also noted that tournament rules allowed the team to make any needed modifications to Rex before moving on to the next challenge. “But this year, we didn’t have to do any of that, which is a relief,” he said. “We had some time to play around with it, but we were really confident with what we had.”