A robotics team at Minuteman High School has won two awards in a regional competition for creating “Proxima,” which is driven by remote control and shoots balls high into the air.

The Minuteman students, known as Team Alpha Centauri received the Rookie Game Changer Award and the Rookie Game Design Award in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Six students from Arlington were among those involved.

 With "Proxima" are, from left, are: Alexis Farrow, grade 9, of Needham; Gabriel Herbertz, grade 12, of Stow; River Araujo, grade 9, of Acton; Caleb Baumritter, grade 9, of Acton; and Tucker Mast, grade 9, of Stow.

The international high school robotics competition holds national and regional tournaments around the United States. Students work during a six-week period to build robots capable of such tasks as scoring balls into goals, placing inner tubes onto racks and balancing robots on beams. Minuteman’s inaugural FIRST Robotics Club was established this school year.

The Minuteman students worked both remotely and in-person to design, 3D model, assemble, wire, program and test their robot. The students collaborated with the Fitch High School in Groton, Conn., to put the final touches on the robot.

The students involved in the robotics competition were:

• Markis Galea, grade 12, engineering major, of Stow;
• Gabriel Herbertz, grade 12, robotics major, of Stow;
• Nicholas Abreu, grade 11, engineering major, of Lexington;
• Haris Ansari, grade 11, engineering major, of Stow;
• Sarah Buchieri, grade 11, engineering major, of Lancaster;
• Maliha Khan, grade 11, multimedia engineering major, of Lancaster;
• Thomas Maloney, grade 11, robotics major, of Waltham;
• Sreeman Lakshmanan, grade 11, engineering major, of Acton;
• Charlie Perry, grade 11, engineering major, of Woburn;
• Kevin Bartles, grade 10, engineering major, of Lexington;
• Charlie Bruel, grade 10, engineering major, of Needham;
• Alex Hanson, grade 10 engineering major, of Reading;
• Abraham Kim, grade 10, engineering major, of Belmont;
• Alex Qazilbash, grade 10, engineering major, of Arlington;
• Zachary Marshall, grade 10, engineering major, of Stow;
• Riley Mitchell, grade 10, biotechnology major, of Sudbury;
• Dylan Schrock, grade 10, engineering major, of Acton;
• Nichola DiPlacido, grade 9, environmental science major, of Arlington;
• Riley Faulds, grade 9, multimedia engineering major, of Arlington;
• Sebastian Krikorian, grade 9, engineering major, of Arlington;
• Sammantha Markowitz, grade 9, multimedia engineering major, of Arlington;
• Thomas Veller, Grade 9, programming and web development major, of Arlington
• River Araujo, grade 9, engineering major, of Acton;
• Teya Barbosa, grade 9, engineering major, of Dover;
• Caleb Baumritter, grade 9, engineering major, of Acton;
• Calvin Dowds, grade 9, plumbing major, of Bolton;
• Alexis Farrow, grade 9, engineering major, of Needham; and
• Tucker Mast, grade 9, engineering major, of Stow.

The faculty adviser was Deanna Clark, an engineering teacher.

This news announcement was published Monday, May 17, 2021. Providing the information is Dan O'Brien, who works for Minuteman.