The Twisted Botz VEX Robotics team 177, a home-school high school robotics group based in Gloucester, won the Virginia High School VEX Championship on Feb. 22 at Meadow Event Park in Doswell.

The Botz, a team of eight students with robots 177X and 177Z, competed with 48 other high school teams for the championship. At the end of qualifying rounds, the Twisted Botz and 177Z were ranked first with an 8-0 record.

The Botz and 177Z selected the 6-2, sixth-ranked 177X group to join their alliance, along with the 5-3, 12th-ranked Seton School 46B team from Manassas. The alliance, captained by the 177Z group, went on to outscore three other alliances to win the tournament.

As state champions, the Twisted Botz and their alliance partners earned bids to the 2014 VEX Robotics World Championship in Anaheim, Calif., in April and the International VEX Summer Games in Honolulu, Hawaii, in July.  In the optional Programming Skills competition, 177Z placed third and 177X was sixth and in the o...