The Twisted Botz, a robotics team based in Gloucester, won a pair of championships and garnered two Excellence Awards with its entries in two winter regional robotics competitions.

The Twisted Botz ran two robots and competed with 28 other teams on Jan. 26 in the VEX Robotics Tournament at Cedarville University in Ohio. The tournament was directed by Twisted Botz alumna Julia Thompson, now a junior studying mechanical engineering and pre-medicine at Cedarville.

At Cedarville, the Twisted Botz team 177 finished 11th in qualifying matches before forming an alliance with a team from Georgetown, Ky. Their alliance went on to upset the number one alliance in the finals to become the tournament champion.

The second Botz team, 177J, finished qualifying in 10th place and aligned with a team from Batavia, Ill. They were defeated in close quarterfinal matches, but the Twisted Botz 177J entry received the Excellence Award.

The Botz ran three robots while competing with 33 teams in the Central Virginia VRC Tournament Feb. 4 in Chesterfield. Team 177 finished qualifying rounds in sixth place but its subsequent alliance was defeated in the semifinals.

Botz team 177J finished the qualifiers in eighth place and joined with the RoboDukes 1 team from Gloucester and another team but was defeated in the semifinals. The Botz third entry, team 177Z, was second in qualifiers, formed Alliance #2 with the NASA Knights of Hampton and another team. That alliance went on to win the tournament and Twisted Botz 177Z received the excellence award.

The tournament wins and top awards earned the Twisted Botz a trip to the VEX Robotics High School World Championship set for April 17-20 in Anaheim, Calif. The Botz are coached by NASA engineer Jon Thompson of Gloucester, Jeff Miller of Williamsburg, and Hank Sierk of Ashland.