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Nerdy-in-a Cool-Way Team Takes 3rd in Bot Challenge

GLOUCESTER - — A team of home schoolers from the Middle Peninsula and Williamsburg placed third last weekend at an international robotics competition in Atlanta. 

Twisted Bots, an eight-person team comprising high school-aged students from Gloucester, Mathews and Williamsburg, earned the honor at the fourth-annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

The Twisted Bots, so named by the nerdy-in-a-cool-way team members because it sounded "rock 'n' roll," competed against teams from across North America in match-ups that pitted robot against robot. The Twisted Bots earned a spot at the championship on the strength of a first-place finish at the state competition held at theUniversity of Virginia in December.

The team is coached by Jon and Brenda Thompson, of Gloucester, who built a full-scale model of the FIRST competition's playing field in their basement. Jon Thompson is a mechanical engineer atNASA's Langley Research Center.