On October 31, Choate’s Robotics team won second place out of 24 teams at RiverRage, an off-season contest of the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) organized by the nonprofit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST).
Since the competition was an off-season event, the team couldn’t gain FIRST eligibility points, which are used to enter higher-tiered competitions. Additionally, because the competition was based off of the 2020 challenge, the robot that competed in this event was the same one used in the previous year.
Nevertheless, the competition was valuable experience for team members, especially because none of the participants had ever attended a Choate robotics competition.
Robotics Co-captain Kenadi Waymire ’22 emphasized the importance of getting competition experience: “You can build the best robot, but if you have no competition practice, then you’re not going to do very well.”
She also spoke about the challenges the team has persevered through during the off-season. A few weeks before RiverRage, the team participated in another offseason competition that didn’t go quite as well. “It was a mess,” said Waymire. “The robot just would not drive, and that happened in the middle of the competition.”
Mr. Andrew Murgio, an adviser to the robotics team, noted that the team members’ inexperience with the robot was another obstacle to their success. “The robot had been built, but it hadn’t been driven recently, and the people who built and coded it aren’t necessarily here anymore,” he said.
To prepare for RiverRage, the team put a lot of effort into familiarizing themselves with the robot and fixing any technical and mechanical errors they recognized from previous competitions. Mr. Murgio said, “Within two weeks, we had to completely replace the gearbox and make sure that it was working properly, which was a huge amount of work.”
This off-season event was the perfect opportunity for the team to see what skills they needed to improve upon for their upcoming season this winter. Mr. Murgio was impressed to see how quickly the first-timers adjusted to the new environment. “I was very pleased with how quickly the students were able to become a good team and perform well under the pressure of one of these events,” he said.
Reflecting on her first ever robotics competition experience, Zoe Plunkett ’24 “felt nervous before the competition. However, I had fun meeting other robotics teams and getting to see [the team’s] hard work in action.”
Both Waymire and Mr. Murgio have high hopes for the season. Mr. Murgio is confident in the team’s abilities: “The new kids this year are very well-prepared from the fall term course and are ready to start the build process in January.” He continued, “I’m very optimistic about our team this year and how we’ll do.”
Waymire spoke of the confidence she has in this team, not only to win accolades, but to become a supportive and cohesive group. “I hope that we can have a good time at competitions, not just awards-wise, but also as being a cohesive team that understands each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “I hope that we can go in and have fun while still being competitive.”
