A group of Christian home-schooled students from the North Hills is headed to Denver next month to participate in a robotics competition against top teams from Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Dakota and Pennsylvania.

Students of FINS—Family Instructors of the Northern Suburbs (of Pittsburgh) Robotics Team have qualified for the second year in a row for the BEST — Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology — Robotics Regional Competition.

BEST Robotics is a national nonprofit with licensed Hubs located nationwide.

The competition requires students to design and build a bot that must complete a specific set of challenges. This year’s theme, Incisions Decision, consists of a surgical element, with teams creating a custom robot required to perform up to 10 simulated, minimally invasive surgeries in three minutes.

The “field” for the competition is a simulated body reminiscent of the popular “Operation” board game.

The FINS team conducted monthly meetings to learn the key factors of its 2023 robot named “SLICE” — Saving Lives In Critical Environments.

Courtesy of FINS Robotics The FINS Robotics Team photographed at the 2023 BEST Robotics competition in October at Grove City College.  

For Max Tame, 15, of Fox Chapel, the lesson of teamwork has resonated throughout the competition season.

“I’ve learned just how important it is to work together as a team,” Tame said. “None of us have all of the skills to be successful in every aspect of this competition, but together, we can draw from the expertise, experience and ideas of one another to come together and be better as a team than any of us could individually.”

SLICE was programmed to perform the following procedures: brain biopsy (autonomously), cardiac valve repair, cardiac valve replacement, pacemaker electrode connection, heart ablation, coronary artery bypass, arterial plaque removal, angioplasty and stent insertion, vein harvesting and internal hemorrhaging damage control.

Courtesy of FINS Robotics “Slice” is a custom robot required to perform up to 10 simulated, minimally invasive surgeries in three minutes. Students of FINS—Family Instructors of the Northern Suburbs (of Pittsburgh) Robotics Team created the robot and will compete next month in Denver against teams from six states.  

“Getting to learn and build something we’re all passionate about with friends is what I’ve enjoyed most about this competition,” said Aiden Guffey, 16, of Zelienople.

In last year’s national BEST competition in Colorado, the FINS team placed second Overall, first in Marketing Presentation, second in the T-shirt Design Competition and ninth in the nation for Team Exhibit.

To qualify this year, FINS competed against 14 other high school robotics teams from Allegheny and Butler counties on Oct. 20-21 at Grove City College. The FINS team placed second Overall, first in Marketing Presentation, second in Team Exhibit and 2nd in The Game, where team robots compete head-to-head. The team won the Marketing Video Award.

FINS formed 11 years ago and is based in Cranberry Township.

Cassidy Altland, 13, of Baden said she returned for her second year on the Robotics team “much better prepared,” and she was able to better visualize what was needed.

“As part of the marketing team, I learned what it takes to make a good presentation and have gained confidence in just being able to speak in front of a group of judges,” Altland said.

The students began training in August for the competition with weekly meetings.

This year, the students assembled sub-groups to tackle each portion of the competition.

“Using last year’s experience and learning can boost your confidence and success because you’re able to build off what you already know,” said Abigail Farrey, 18, of Cranberry Township.

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