The Digital Devils, the Plainville High School robotics team, has gained 24th position out of 32 teams in its first competition at the Southington Regional FIRST Robotics Competition last weekend. The Plainville robotics team, which was formed in September 2013, has also won two rookie awards in the competition.

In the competition's Aerial Assist, a multi-robot game, all the team members were given set of rules and a standard kit of parts to build an autonomous and remotely operated robot. Jeffrey Kitching, Superintendent of Schools, said that they felt pleased on having the FIRST robotics team up and running and in action.

Jeffrey said that a group of seven students and three teachers from their high school took showed their keen dedication and hard work in the competition. Abi Gianis, a junior in second year on the team, said their robot was capable of completing all tasks and can cooperate and work with other robots too.

During the 2 1/2-minute match, all the competing alliances used three robots to score maximum of goals they can to win the competition with bonus marks to those who threw their balls over the truss.

The 5-foot-tall, 120-pound robot of the Digital Devils played the defensive part and won the Highest Rookie Seed Award with the Rookie Inspiration Award. By the end of the competition, the robot of the Digital Devils gained the top performance among all first-year teams.

In order to qualify the district competition in Boston, the Digital Devils team will now compete next at Hartford Public High School on March 29 and 30. According to sources, if the team will won district competition, it will advance to the World Championships in St. Louis at the Edward Jones Dome on April 23-26.