Logan Lawler and Niken Patel won a national championship at the SkillsUSA robotics and automation problem-solving competition in late June.
By: Sarah Wright | C&G Newspapers | Published August 4, 2025
UTICA/STERLING HEIGHTS/SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Niken Patel and Logan Lawler, 2025 graduates from the Utica Center for Science and Industry, were named national champions in the SkillsUSA robotics and automation problem-solving competition earlier this summer.
SkillsUSA is a workforce development nonprofit organization that aims to help prepare students — in middle school, high school and college or other postsecondary programs — as they pursue education for skilled trades and technical and skilled service occupations. The organization uses different programs and competitions to further encourage students in their interests in these fields.
Before graduating, Patel attended Henry Ford II High School and Lawler attended Eisenhower High School in addition to attending the Utica Center for Science and Industry. CSI is a half-day high school specialty program within Utica Community Schools that provides students with the opportunity to explore careers in mechatronics, multimedia programs or engineering technology.
In late June, Patel and Lawler competed in the SkillsUSA robotics and automation problem-solving competition with top students from 24 states.
This is the second year that a CSI team earned a national title in the competition. CSI students have participated in the Skills USA Robotics and Automation competition for the last 10 years. They have gone to the national tournament five times, winning two gold medals, one bronze medal and two top-10 honors.
“Niken and Logan are proof that hard work and dedication to your craft can provide big dividends in the end,” Patel and Lawler’s adviser and mechatronics teacher, Scott Spry, said in a press release. “The experience and networking they were able to achieve have already paid off. I think they will remember this week for many years.”
In the competition that Patel and Lawler won, the students were required to make a robot perform a specific task by creating a cell, which is the component needed for robots to perform a task on an assembly line.
“This was one of those opportunities that I very well could’ve said no to but look where it took me; always take every opportunity you’re given,” Lawler said in an email.
“The real win at skills was not the competition itself but the memories we made while competing and the connections we made along the way,” Patel said in an email. “Always take the opportunity to start a conversation.”
Lawler and Patel were also recently asked by an international robotics leader, FANUC Robotics, to take two certification tests, which they passed. Both will be attending Western Michigan University in the fall to study engineering.
For more information, visit skillsusa.org or uticak12.org.