The Harlem Knights robotics team from the Frederick Douglass Academy took home one of the top honors at the FIRST NYC Regional Robotics Competition this week at the Javits Center.

FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a non-profit organization working to promote science and technology learning among young people, in partnership with Time Warner Cable's Connect A Million Minds initiative.

The Knights won the Chairman's Award at this week's regional FIRST competition, for their work on a robot that can throw flying discs and climb pyramids.

This year's FIRST competition, called Ultimate Ascent, involves teams of robots competing against each other on a 27'x54' field to see who can score the most goals with a disc and scale the tallest height on a pyramid structure.

The Chairman's Award allows the team to advance to the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis on April 24–27.

It's the first time the Harlem Knights team has ever qualified for the FRC Championships.