Terra Bytes Wins Engineering Excellence Award at American Robotics Open Nationals

Terra Bytes Wins Engineering Excellence Award at American Robotics Open Nationals

After a full season of hard work, innovation, and teamwork, CFI Robotics Team Terra Bytes (62345) has earned the Engineering Excellence Award at the 2026 American Robotics Open National Competition.

The Engineering Excellence Award recognizes teams that demonstrate outstanding robot design, innovative engineering solutions, strong problem-solving, and exceptional documentation throughout the engineering process. It is one of the most respected judged awards at the competition and reflects a team’s ability to combine technical excellence with thoughtful design and continuous improvement.

The judges specifically highlighted Terra Bytes’ robot, Dino, which featured a versatile 3-in-1 attachment system, PID-controlled navigation, and extensive engineering documentation that showcased the team’s design process and decision-making throughout the season.

In addition to receiving the Engineering Excellence Award, Terra Bytes placed 6th nationwide in the Table Run competition, competing against many of the top FIRST LEGO League teams from across the United States.

These students represented CFI Robotics with professionalism, creativity, and determination throughout the event. Their success reflects months of preparation, testing, redesigning, documenting, and collaborating as a team.

This achievement builds on an incredible season that started with winning the Champions Award at the Illinois Qualifier, advancing through the state competition season, and ultimately earning the opportunity to represent Illinois on the national stage.

Season Accomplishments

Illinois Qualifier

At the Illinois Qualifier, the team faced unexpected challenges. During competition runs, the table shifted and an important robot attachment had been left behind. Instead of giving up, the students quickly adapted, rebuilt what they needed, and continued competing.

Awards Earned:

• Champions Award

• Robot Performance Award

• Coach Award

• Favorite Shirt Award

• 1st Place Robot Game — 355 Points

Illinois Sectional Championship

At Sectionals, the team entered with a goal of reaching 520 points in the Robot Game. In their very first official run, they achieved that goal.

Awards Earned:

• Sectionals Champions Award

• 1st Place Robot Performance Award

• 1st Place Robot Game — 520 Points

Illinois State Championship

At State, Terra Bytes demonstrated maturity, discipline, and technical consistency against the best teams in Illinois.

Awards Earned:

• 2nd Place Robot Performance Award (530-point Robot Game tie)

• 3rd Place Robot Design Award

• Advanced to National-Level Events

American Robotics Open Nationals

Competing against top teams from across the United States, Terra Bytes continued to demonstrate excellence in engineering, innovation, and teamwork.

Awards Earned:

• Engineering Excellence Award

• 6th Place Nationwide Table Run

Beyond the awards and rankings, Terra Bytes demonstrated what engineering is truly about: identifying problems, developing solutions, testing ideas, learning from failures, and working together to achieve a common goal.

We are incredibly proud of every student, coach, parent, and volunteer who contributed to this journey.

Think. Build. Test. Explain.

Additional photos, competition highlights, and behind-the-scenes stories from Nationals will be added to this article in the coming days.

THANK YOU NATIONALS SPONSORS

Team TerraBytes was able to take this next step because of businesses, families, and community supporters who believe in our students. Thank you for helping make this Nationals opportunity possible.

Title Sponsors

• NewTec Windows and Doors

• Athena Design Group (ADG)

Gold Sponsors

• Tivichi

• AllCare Orthodontic

• BigMarker

Silver Sponsors

• WLM Home Improvement

• Meadowland Eggs

• Construinvest Realty

Supporters

• Estancia’s Bakery

• Judy Xue

Your support helped provide students with an unforgettable opportunity to compete, learn, and represent our community on the national stage. Thank you for investing in the next generation of innovators, engineers, and problem-solvers.