Top-ranked Israeli robotics team gives up championship bid over Shabbat observance

An Israeli youth robotics team withdrew from the final round of an elite robotics championships over the weekend in Texas due to their religious observance of Shabbat, which precludes the use of electronics, among other things.

The forfeit marked the second time in three years that the Trigon 5990 team from AMIT High School for Boys in Modiin withdrew from the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition due to the final being held on Saturday.

Held annually in Houston, Texas, the robotics championship attracts more than 19,000 students, aged 14-18, from 66 countries, with Israel among the top represented locations.

Teams had 6.5 weeks to design, assemble and program a robot before presenting their designs at the April 17-20 competition.

Trigon, which is ranked 27th out of 3,600 teams globally, had been poised to vie for a top spot in the tourney, entering the final day of competition in 15th place out of 600 competitors.

After announcing their withdrawal, the group set up a booth outside the competition with a table containing an Israeli flag, a Kiddush cup and challah, along with a sign reading “Why aren’t we here today? Because today is Shabbat!” The sign contained a QR code referring those interested to a link where they could learn more about the Jewish day of rest.

The students  wrote that they were withdrawing “with their heads held high and with pride,” wishing luck to their peers.

זה הדוכן שבית ספר אמית מודיעין השאיר בתחרות הרובוטיקה העולמית ביוסטון,
הגמר התקיים בשבת ולכן הם לא הגיעו לתחרות, ועשו קידוש ה׳ גדול

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שר המדע הגיע הזמן להרים את הכפפה ולפרגן לחבר׳ה האלה על חדשנות ומצד שני על שמירת המסורת והערכים@OfirAkunis pic.twitter.com/B3K2iBtZ5j

— ינאי קאפח ???????? (@yanay_kapach) April 22, 2023

The same booth and sign had previously been used in 2023, when Trigon also pulled out due to the final taking place on Saturday.

Trigon has campaigned for FIRST to amend the scheduling of the competition, which typically takes place over a weekend, to accommodate the needs of religious teams.

The head of AMIT, a religious public school with a significant number of observant students, said he fully supported their decision and praised their work over the last year.

“They built a small tech factory at [the high school] which is at the pinnacle of international robotics, and competed with giant companies like Google, Apple and NASA which sponsor other leading teams,” Rabbi Lior Chikotai told Channel 12 news.

Despite Trigon’s forfeiture, Israeli teams performed well in the competition, most notably Tichonet-Alterman High School from Tel Aviv, which came in first place in the Engineering Inspiration category.

Israel, which has a global reputation as a tech powerhouse, is particularly strong in the field of youth robotics, with about 60 competitive teams. Trigon was one of eight Israeli teams to make it to a final stage in one of the competition’s various categories. The teams included Orbit from Binyamina, which won the entire FIRST competition last year.

Participation in international academic, athletic, and artistic competitions falling on Shabbat has been a recurring issue for Israeli teams with religiously observant members.

In 2023, the under-17 men’s, women’s and co-ed American flag football teams – most of whom are Orthodox Jews – had to forfeit games held on Shabbat during the European Junior Flag Football Championships hosted in Italy. Despite this, the men’s team won Israel’s first gold medal at the championship.

Several Israeli delegations to the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years have also opted not to participate in rehearsals held on Saturdays. In 2019, the Shalva band, a popular group of musicians from a religious special needs center in Jerusalem, withdrew from consideration as Israel’s entry over the issue.