Knowde sponsors Deja Vu Robotics at FIRST® Tech Challenge competition

Knowde is pleased to support programs that promote STEM education. FIRST® Tech Challenge teaches young people to think like engineers and collaborate in a team environment. These skills will help develop the next generation of engineers that can contribute to the success of companies like ours.”

Wojciech Krupa, Chief Technical Officer of Knowde

Knowde sponsors team at FIRST® Tech Challenge competition

SAN JOSE, CA – MARCH 16, 2022 – Knowde, the marketplace for ingredients, polymers and chemistry, helped sponsor a team that advanced to the regional tournament finals of the “FIRST® Tech Challenge” on March 12 in Newark, CA.

To get to the regional tournament, Deja Vu Robotics teamed with Kuriosity Robotics to win first place honors for the best robot and the best team in a local competition in Mountain View, CA, on February 5. Deja Vu Robotics also received the Inspire Award, given to the team that displayed the best community outreach, journal, robot design, and professionalism, in the local tournament.

FIRST® Tech Challenge students compete in an alliance format against other teams, where they use a variety of levels of Java-based programming to design, build, and program robots and power them using android technology. 

Teams are judged on robot design, team dynamics and community outreach. Each team is interviewed by the tournament judges and required to make a team presentation. Participating students are eligible to apply for college scholarships offered by FIRST®.

“Knowde is pleased to support programs that promote STEM education. FIRST® Tech Challenge teaches young people to think like engineers and collaborate in a team environment. These skills will help develop the next generation of engineers that can contribute to the success of companies like ours,” said Wojciech Krupa, Chief Technical Officer of Knowde.

For Deja Vu Robotics, the competition was not without challenges.

“For the local competition, we had to use a regular drawer slide as an arm mechanism for our robot because shipping delays prevented us from getting a part we needed in time,” said Martyna Sobczyk, a member of Deja Vu Robotics. “The judges said they liked our robot design, and they were impressed by the way that we adapted to the situation.” 

Despite not winning the regional competition, the Deja Vu Robotics team members were pleased with their accomplishments. 

“We did well and we learned a lot, and we think we can do even better next year,” said Sobczyk.

Deja Vu Robotics includes team members Sobczyk, Connor Houle, Dani Ticau, Tanisha Jain, Saamya Yadav, Ananth Kini, Toby Seng, Ruchi Alavilli, Soham Kulkarni, and Om Kulkarni. All are ninth graders at Santa Clara High School. Parent-coaches Phil Houle and Ujjwala Kulkarni are advisors to the team. 

Students who participate in the FIRST® Tech Challenge develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles, while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and working as a team. The teams which can have up to 15 team members in grades 7-12, are guided by adult coaches and mentors throughout the competition.

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About FIRST®

FIRST® is the world’s leading youth-serving nonprofit advancing STEM education. FIRST® inspires young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

About Knowde

Knowde is the leading online marketplace for producers and buyers of ingredients, polymers and chemistry. The Knowde.com marketplace allows buyers to search, compare, sample, quote and purchase products from every producer on earth, all in one place. With more than 100,000 products and thousands of producer storefronts — more than any distributor, marketplace or middleman organization in the history of the industry — Knowde is the largest marketplace of its kind. Knowde is backed by top tier investors including Coatue, Sequoia Capital, Refactor Capital, Bee Partners, Cantos Ventures, Sound Ventures, TQ Ventures, K5 Global, Mantis VC, Knollwood, 8VC, and FJ Labs. For more information, visit www.knowde.com.

Media Relations Contact

John Schmidt 

Email: john.schmidt@knowde.com

Phone: 973-632-8214