Robotics Challenge Scholarship Winner Helps Create Formula Hybrid Car

Spencer Tiegs, the 2017 NFPA Robotics Challenge Scholarship winner, has been very busy since winning his scholarship! Not only is he attending the Milwaukee School of Engineering for mechanical engineering as part of the University Scholars Honors Program, he also continues to coach and mentor FIRST^® Robotics high school students and is part of the Formula Hybrid team at MSOE.

The FIRST team that Spencer mentors competed at both of the area’s regional competitions. They were picked by the 8th seeded alliance and made it to the elimination rounds. Playing as underdogs the whole afternoon, they were able to beat the #1, #4, and #6 alliances at the competition and came home as regional winners! As a result, they competed in Detroit at the world championships, and even though they were defeated in the quarterfinals, it was an outstanding experience for the team.

Spencer’s Formula Hybrid team has also made tons of progress. The chassis and suspension have been completely fabricated, and both received a paint job. His subteam, the powertrain subteam, have also put the car’s combustion engine, transmission, differential in the car. They coupled the electronic motor to the transmission and added axles to the car, so it is able to functionally drive. His team competed in the Formula Hybrid Competition in New Hampshire and placed 4th in the hybrid category!

The NFPA Robotics Challenge scholarship was launched in support of the missions of FIRST Robotics and the National Robotics League (NRL). NFPA offers one merit-based scholarship for $40,000 ($10,000 per year for four years) to a high school senior who participates as part of a FIRST Robotics or NRL Competition Team. This scholarship may be used to study engineering at any accredited technical college or university in the United States.

If you would like more information about how to get involved with FIRST or NRL robotics programs, or if you would like more information about the NFPA scholarship, please contact lbeyer@nfpa.com or (414) 778-3364.