Johnston Community College Receives Grant To Support JoCo Robos

The NHRL 2023 College and University Robotics Grant Opportunity awarded $10,000 to the program.

SMITHFIELD – The JoCo Robos team is getting a big financial boost thank to the Norwalk Havoc Robot League (NHRL) 2023 College and University Grant Opportunity.

The all-county high school robotics team, hosted by the Associate in Engineering program at Johnston Community College (JCC), was awarded $10,000 to send the team to the statewide FIRST Robotics competition (FRC) in March.

The JoCo Robos team currently has 15 students working closely with instructors and volunteer mentors for the FRC. They have six weeks to conceptualize, design, build, program, modify and test a robot to participate in the competition.

“The team had to go on hiatus from competitions due to the COVID-9 pandemic,” says Aaron Brickman, the department chair for natural sciences, engineering, and math.

“We are excited to get back out there and this funding from NHRL is going to ensure we can get the whole team to the FRC,” Brickman adds.

Outside of competing in FIRST Robotics, the team competes in district tournaments and hosts several robotics camps over the summer for elementary school students. JoCo Robos is open to all Johnston County high school and dual-enrolled students.

NHRL is the largest and most accessible combat league in the world. This year the organization awarded a total of one million dollars to 100 collegiate-level robotics teams.