Brooklyn robotics team finishes 4th in international competition

DETROIT, Michigan (WABC) -- A high school robotics team from John Dewey High School in Gravesend, Brooklyn competed in an international robotics tournament in Detroit last weekend and finished in fourth place out of nearly 400 teams.

Team 333, the Megalodons, are part of the FIRST Robotics Competition programs (FIRST stand for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology"), an international program that seeks to get students involved in and excited about science, technology, engineering, and math.

Each January, students from around the globe are given a challenge in the form of a team based game.

The students then have six weeks to strategize, design and build a robot to compete.

Following the "build season" is a seven-week competition schedule where teams from around the region meet. At the end of the season, the best of nearly four thousand teams worldwide are invited to Detroit to determine a world champion.

The Megalodons traveled to Michigan last Wednesday for the three-day competition.

After a 10 match qualifying schedule, Team 333 formed an alliance (a grouping of three teams) with teams from Brighton, Michigan and Southington, Connecticut for the playoff rounds.

Team 333 won its sub-division bracket and then went on to finish fourth in the world in the final round of play.