TCC Robotics Teams Place 2nd and 5th at National Competition
The Tidewater Community College Robotics team arrived home from a special summer trip out West with some hardware.
With a combination of teamwork and innovation, the TCC Chesapeake campus Robotics team of five students won 2nd place at the prestigious 2024 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Robot Competition in Portland, Oregon, on June 23, 2024. Their fellow TCC students on the Virginia Beach campus team secured 5th place.
Teams from across the nation competed by building autonomous robots and presenting their skills and development in a race against the clock. During this year’s conference, TCC was featured in a special video segment, showcasing students’ strategy and their robots in action. They spent their initial hours meticulously building competition tracks, followed by a practice day and, finally, the main event.
Adding to their enriching experience, TCC students engaged with seasoned engineers and received valuable feedback on their robotic designs.
“A competition like this allows students the opportunity to go through a full design process,” says William Simmons, Engineering program head and assistant professor of engineering at TCC. “These aspiring engineers get to experience what their role would be like on a professional team, as well as aspects of the job they enjoy, and most importantly, team building.”
Participating TCC students included Nathan Bell, Alex Buck, Caio Clauson, Cyrus Rodgers, and Madison Schwanz on the Chesapeake campus team and Madison DiGuilio, Antoine Robinson, Samantha Rodriguez Segura, Matthew Waters, and Nicole Weber on the Virginia Beach team.
DiGuilio is TCC’s engineering club president. A college sophomore from Kodiak, Arkansas, DiGuilio is majoring in chemical engineering and says this was a fantastic experience of what engineering design may look like in practical application.
“You work with people with all kinds of different perspectives, and it really teaches you how to take everybody’s influence and input to achieve a shared goal,” said DiGuilio. “I really love being able to take what I learn in my classes and lead a team to a completed project. Not every year is going to lead to first place, but it will lead to both individual and team growth, as well as exciting experiences that don’t exist in the classroom environment.”
The victors’ return trip home presented unexpected challenges. After a long flight to Newark, New Jersey, the team faced a canceled connection back to Norfolk and days of delay for alternate flights. Undeterred, faculty members Kenny Grimes and William Simmons secured a 15-passenger van and embarked on an impromptu overnight drive that tested their endurance but ultimately strengthened their camaraderie.
“We are immensely proud of our students and grateful for the college’s support in making such transformative experiences possible. This trip was more than a competition; it was a testament to our faculty and students’ resilience and spirit,” said Simmons.
TCC’s Engineering program prepares students for in-demand careers with rigorous training to provide a comprehensive foundation for transfer to a four-year institution.