The first Southwest Florida team to ever make it to the robotics World Championship has come home with first place. Students from Dunbar, Bonita Springs, and Fort Myers high schools spent 1500 hours of team building to create a robot that took them to the huge competition in Houston from April 20-23. “Java the Hutts” joined teams from Colorado and Romania in the Winning Alliances to bring home the gold. The students shared how they felt so much support and encouragement from their hometowns. They were proud of their hard work and effort to create the best robot possible.

The competition was sponsored by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), a global robotics community with teams spread across 110 countries. 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." It is also featured in the original documentary “More Than Robots” streaming on Disney+.