A Wellington robotics team took home the top prize at a national competition, standing out among high school and college competitors.
Wellington students capped off a standout season at the National Robotics Challenge, held April 17–18 at the Marion County Fairgrounds. Upper school students Annabeth Pan '27, Bean Fischer '26, and Claire Shen '26 earned the competition’s top honor, the Honda Innovation Award, for their autonomous vehicle robot. Their design used a stereo vision system to navigate a course of colored buckets and outperformed both high school and college teams, with judges noting the team was on “a completely different level.” The team’s $500 award will support future robotics efforts at Wellington.
Middle school students also made their mark, competing in Robot Mini Sumo and BattleBots, with one team advancing to the final rounds after adapting to changing event rules. In a first for Wellington, a middle school BattleBots team built and controlled a remote-drive robot from scratch, including 3D-printing key components.
The strength of Wellington’s robotics program is guided by faculty expertise, including STEM educator Dr. Chris Fischer P '24 '26, whose background in mechanical engineering and computational analysis helps students approach challenges with both creativity and technical precision.
Students developed skills in problem-solving, persistence, collaboration, and applied engineering through hands-on design, testing, and iteration. The competition marked the conclusion of the after-school robotics club season, which will return next year, continuing to push students to think boldly and build what is next.