American School of The Hague Hosts, Wins International Robotics Competition
Nineteen innovative teams from across Europe and the Netherlands gathered for the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Qualifying Tournament, competing for a spot at the Benelux Region Championships. After triumphing in the tournament with a Benelux region record-breaking score, ASH’s team The Flying Dutchman was also given the INSPIRE Award, FTC’s highest recognition for the most well-rounded robot and team.
 
The tournament is part of the 2024-2025 Into The Deep season, where teams are challenged to engage with technical expertise and teamwork skills to create solutions to a unique robotics challenge inspired by the theme of healthy oceans.
 
The Flying Dutchman wins Tournament and INSPIRE Award
 
In advance of the tournament, ASH's teams, The Flying Dutchman and their sister team Trojan Robotics (who also won the INSPIRE Award in December), collaborated with Lithuania's team LITBOT throughout the week, exchanging ideas and refining strategies. Their partnership and camaraderie resulted in an impressive Benelux region high score of 303 points. LITBOT selected The Flying Dutchman for the playoffs, and went on to win each match by over 100 points and winning the tournament.
 
The Flying Dutchman earned the INSPIRE Award, recognizing their exceptional embodiment of the FTC challenge. This award celebrates their journey through the engineering design process, connections to both local and engineering communities, sportsmanship, innovative control systems, and more. Winning the INSPIRE Award and the tournament secured their place in the Benelux Championship, both The Flying Dutchman and Trojan Robotics will compete on a national level in February. The Flying Dutchman's performance has placed them, at the time of writing, 91st on offensive power ranking (OPR) and 57th in autonomous scoring out of more than 7000 teams worldwide.
 
“The week prior to the tournament was great,” shared Robotics Coach Mr. Pratt. “Together with LITBOT, a team from Lithuania participating as part of an Erasmus+ project, they developed their robots, learned from each other, and established a shared strategy.”
 
Exploring STEM With Innovative Partners and Organizations
 
Visitors to the tournament also had the chance to interact with leading companies and organizations in STEM, including TU Delft’s Forze Hydrogen Racing Team, Microsoft Dream Space, and The Hague Tech, who showcased their groundbreaking innovations and missions. Parents and students of all ages gathered to explore and share in the excitement of science and technology, contributing to the day's vibrant energy. Trojan Robotics, The Flying Dutchman's sister team, contributed significantly by demonstrating their robots, sharing programming resources, and assisting with repairs at the Repair Café.
 
What’s Next?
 
Winners of this Qualifying Tournament will advance to the Benelux Regional Championship on February 15. Teams progressing beyond the Championship will have the opportunity to compete at the World’s competition in April or the European Premiere Event in July. Reflecting on this possibility, Mr. Pratt stated, “It would be my expectation for the teams to go through to one of those as well.”
 
As we look ahead to the Benelux Regional Championship and beyond, we are excited to see how these talented teams continue to collaborate and achieve new milestones. Some of the students who are currently on the teams are bound to graduate in the summer, which means their journey is far from over – their story of their success and innovation is only just beginning.