The best 34 NRL teams from across the United States assembled to compete for the Grand Champion Award at the NRL 2022 National Championship at the UPMC Events at Robert Morris University, May 20 – 21. The competition featured the fiercest battles in NRL history o determine which school team built the meanest, strongest, most impenetrable, remote-controlled 15 pound robot in the nation.
In the end, Cochranton High School from northwestern Pennsylvania and their Bot, Death Punch, earned both the 1st Place and Grand Champion Awards. The team was supported by their teacher, Christopher Yost, and their Industry Advisor, JBM Technologies.
The other award winners during the competition are the following:
2nd Place Award: Greg, Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus from Jefferson, Ohio
3rd Place Award: Havoc II, Hempfield Area High School, Greensburg, Pennsylvania
NRL Innovation Award: The Thing, Hempfield Area High School, Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Best Engineered Bot: Death Punch, Cochranton High School, Cochranton, Pennsylvania
Best Engineering Documentation: Havoc II, Hempfield Area High School, Greensburg, Pennsylvania & Douglas SmackArthur, Bedford High School, Bedford, Pennsylvania
Coolest Bot: Takeoff, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas
Sportsmanship Award: Pine-Richland High School, Gibsonia, Pennsylvania
A special thank you to Mastercam for designing and machining the awards.
NTMA founded the NRL to help change misperceptions about manufacturing and attract a new generation of students to well-paying technical careers. The program partners teams of middle school, high school, and post-secondary school students with local NTMA manufacturers to work together to build robots designed to do battle. The result is not only a destruction-driven face-off of incredible machines, but also an opportunity to develop high-tech skills and cultivate the interest of a new generation of students who will determine the future of manufacturing.
