NRL 2022 National Championship Recap – WE ARE BACK!!!!!!!!
After taking an unexpected break since 2019, sparks flew and metal crunched again at the NRL 2022 National Championship, May 20-21, at the UPMC Events Center on the campus of Robert Morris University.
The best 34 National Robotics League teams from across the United States competed in the fiercest battles in the history of the program. This was the ultimate test of FULL CONTACT INNOVATION. In the end, Cochranton High School, representing the NWPA NTMA Chapter, built the meanest, strongest, and most impenetrable, remote-controlled 15lb robot in the nation – Death Punch.
In the end, we are all winners. NTMA founded the NRL to help change misperceptions about manufacturing and attract a new generation of students to the in-demand and well-paying careers in manufacturing. At its core, the program was designed to develop relationships and talent pipelines between high schools and NTMA member companies. The result is not only a destruction-driven face-off of incredible machines, but also the opportunity to develop technical and critical thinking skills and to personally recruit these students to be the future of manufacturing.
NTMA and the National Tooling & Machining Foundation would like to thank Grainger, Boston Centerless, BIG DAISHOWA, alliantgroup, HEIDENHAIN, Mastercam, Blaser, and Robert Morris University for joining them in sponsoring the NRL 2022 National Championship. A special thank you to the AWT Foundation and Bloomsburg High School for providing the use of their respective arenas for the competition – and to all of the volunteers that selflessly donated their time.
Congratulations to all of the 34 teams that competed at the NRL 2022 National Championship. Here is the complete list of award winners:
Grand Champion & 1st Place Award: Death Punch, Cochranton High School, Cochranton, PA
2nd Place Award: Greg, Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus from Jefferson, OH
3rd Place Award: Havoc II, Hempfield Area High School, Greensburg, PA
NRL Innovation Award: The Thing, Hempfield Area High School, Greensburg, PA
Best Engineered Bot: Death Punch, Cochranton High School, Cochranton, PA
Best Engineering Documentation: Havoc II, Hempfield Area High School, Greensburg, PA & Douglas SmackArthur, Bedford High School, Bedford, PA
Coolest Bot: Takeoff, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Sportsmanship Award: Pine-Richland High School, Gibsonia, PA
Thank you to Mastercam for designing and machining the championship awards.
The excitement from competition is just the beginning. If you are interested in learning more on how to turn students into passionate, skilled, and future candidates for careers at your shop, reach out to Bill Padnos, NTMA Foundation Executive Director at bpadnos@ntma.org or visit https://gonrl.org/get-involved/mentor-a-team.
By David Hauge Photography