Romania was the first country to dethrone the U.S. in the three-decade history of the FIRST World Robotics Championship, with a team founded by a boy from western Arad, who was 14 years old when he put into practice his dream of building technologies that can change the world we live in. It was as if the jury could not believe that a team, other than American is in first place at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship 2022, so that it initially announced that the title belongs to the team from Arizona, but it was immediately corrected: "In first place, Delta Force of Arad, Romania!".

In 2018, when he finished eighth grade, Octavian Dragos-Botosan spent his summer holiday planning the establishment of a robotics team for the National High School of Information Technology in Arad, to which he had just been admitted. From a young age he was passionate about computers and innovation, says his mother, Corina Botosan, who, together with professor Florin Feher, is a mentor of the Delta Force robotics team.

"Octavian was playing on his phone at a year and a half, and later he was building robots out of LEGO pieces. His curiosity and skill made him dismantle any game I gave him, because he wanted to see how it was built. At the age of five he already mastered the computer, and later he became very passionate about robots, so I enrolled him in a robotics circle," recalls Corina Botosan.

As soon as he started his courses at the high school, Octavian gathered around five other students passionate about robotics and computer science and formed the Delta Force team.

"The name comes from the Delta symbol, used in mathematics and physics, but also from the idea of U.S. special troops, which suggest discipline and strength. I went with the project of the robotics team to the headmistress (National High School of Information Technology, ed. n.) and she was delighted that such an initiative came from the students. She offered us immediate support, we received a Computer Science lab in which to work after classes. There were six students in the team, and our Technology Education teacher, Mr. Feher, was excited when I proposed to him to be our mentor,'' Octavian says.

The team started working daily after classes, designing, programming and testing robots. Often, the children were in the Computer Lab at night, building every piece they needed. In the beginning, most of the pieces were bought online, but over time they began to make them themselves.

"We were allowed in the school at any time, the management gave us the access cards and keys, and that was a great help. Without our laboratory we would not have been able to advance at the pace that was needed to participate in the competitions. Initially, we order parts on the Internet, but then we started to build them ourselves with the help of 3D printers and with equipment for metalworking," Octavian says.

Professor Florin Feher states that the team has become his second family, but has completely changed his vision of his profession.

"It was a professional reset for me, I gave up the classic teaching methods. Once I entered this team, I highlighted the practical skills of each student. Together we built a family, because we gather every season over 1,000 hours of work together. These children work longer than an adult, after classes they remain in the laboratory to think and achieve every piece necessary to build a robot," says the teacher, a mentor of Delta Force.

The first robot built by Arad students could be used in the exploration of Mars.

"It was the theme of the first competition I participated in. The robot had two sets of arms and the task of collecting and sorting minerals from the surface of Mars. We ended up with this project on the 8th place at the national championship," says Octavian.

In Romania there are about 200 robotics teams of students participating in competitions, so the 8th place at the first competition encouraged Delta Force Arad to go further.

"The Natie prin Educatie / Nation Through Education Association is the official FIRST representative for Romania and is in charge of organizing the internal championships, through which we reach the international competitions. In the four years of activity, we have won around 25 awards, of which 8 international. The most important is the title of world champions, obtained in April in Houston, Texas, USA," mentions Octavian, who was then the captain of the team. From this autumn, he left the place of captain to a colleague and chose to remain a mentor for Delta Force, because he graduated from high school, and now he is a student of Computer Science at the Politehnica University of Timisoara.

The members of the team that brought the world trophy are: Octavian Dragos-Botosan - captain, Aida Pero, Robert Rus, Sebastian Macean, Catalin Georgescu, Briana Lucaci, Mihai Ozarchevici, Raul Floarea, Adrian Albota, Radu Micle, Daria Feher; mentors: Corina Botosan and Florin-Mihai Feher.

"When we returned to the hotel, the videos of the award ceremony were projected on the screens, as a sign of appreciation for our team. Afterwards, we went to visit a NASA museum, and after paying for the tickets, we stood in line at the entrance. The staff found out who we were and invited us to the museum on another door, so as not to wait in line. We were treated with respect everywhere we went to the U.S., and then home to Romania," reveals Corina Botosan.

The world championship lined up 160 teams competing from all over the world, and the theme they received was ecology and efficient transport. The Arad team presented itself with a robot that could help manage the goods in the warehouses.

"It is an omnidirectional robot that can work in narrow spaces, which makes it very effective. It is equipped with sensors that allow it to work completely autonomously, being enough for a person to monitor its activity from distance," explains the former captain of Delta Force.

The new captain is Catalin Georgescu, a student in the 12th grade, and the challenge he has in front of him is to defend the world title.

Romania's National Day finds the Arad Delta Force team in the Computer Lab. They chose to take advantage of their days off to set up two robots that will enter competitions in 2023.

"These kids love what they do so much that they don't think about holidays anymore. On December 1st they can be found where they always are: in the Computer Lab," says the mother of the one who founded Delta Force.

Preparations for the two international competitions are very expensive, the team members admit. They estimate that they will need USD 100,000.

"Fortunately, our prospects have changed a lot since we became world champions. Doors were opened to us wherever we went. Moreover, an important automotive company from Arad contacted us immediately after we obtained the title from Houston and supports us a lot with our travels and in everything we do," Corina Botosan says.

From six members in 2018, Delta Force now counts for nearly 50. The reputation of the team made many students passionate about robotics want to work together with the world champions from the National High School of Information Technology of Arad, a school that now prepares a new laboratory, which will cope with the requirements of a team from which the expectations are increasing.AGERPRES(RO - author: Marian Buga, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - editor: Maria Voican)