This year, Choate’s robotics team, the Wired Boars, competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) as a rookie team. The Wired Boars attended the FRC New England District tournament at Worcester Polytechnic Institution with confidence due to their recent outstanding performance at the New England Regional Tournament, which was held at Western New England University.
More than two hundred teams competed in the regional round, but only the top 64 teams qualified for the New England District Championship. After the team’s results at Hartford District Event, the Wired Boars placed in the top 60 teams in all of New England and received the highest rookie seed award after competing in multiple qualifying rounds, and even reaching the semifinals in the playoff rounds. The Choate Robotics Team, coming in as a rookie team, also placed as the captain of the sixth alliance. An “alliance” is comprised of three teams, and the selection of the captains depends on how well each team does in the qualifying rounds.
The organizer of the robotics events is FIRST Robotics New England, the operational partner of First Robotics Competition. The event was supported by a Connecticut nonprofit organization called ingenuity NE. Their mission is to inspire young people to get involved in science and technology through various programs that build engineering and cooperation skills. The teams worked under limited resources, strict regulations, and an intense six-week time limit for building. The robotics competitions in New England are only some of the many events organized by FIRST.
The Advanced Robotics Concentration (ARC) signature program not only allows students to fabricate and design mechanical and electrical systems, but also prepares them for the FRC. Mr. Kyle Di Tieri, the Wired Boars’ mentor and coach, spoke to the competitive drive of students in the ARC program, “They aren’t satisfied with just the status quo, and they want to be challenged. This is the reason why we have an application process [for ARC]. We have to ensure we have students who want to be challenged because it takes a lot of time and energy.”
Bella Morizio ‘20 further explained the benefits of the ARC program, “I would say that ARC has prepared us for FRC not only by giving us the skills needed to build our robot, but also allowing us to develop the collaboration skills needed to make the building of the robot possible.”
In the past, the Wired Boars have competed in VEX Robotics tournaments. This year, the robotics team decided to join FRC. When asked about why the Wired Boars switched to FRC, Mr. Di Tieri said, “The point of our program is to continue pushing to learn. This year we learned about heavier electronics that we have never worked with before, wheel systems, and joining a belt by melting it together. To be honest, if we stayed in VEX, we wouldn’t need to learn these skills. These are techniques used in industries, and we have to prep students for this.”
The FRC is more competitive and challenging than VEX, using more advanced skills and hosting many more members. This competition further expands students’ knowledge of engineering at a deeper level. “The students at Choate illustrate a drive to learn more with the resources of FIRST. Our students have learned much further than they would have ever studied before, satisfying our goal to have students advance their education,” Mr. Di Tieri said. “Our goal for the future is to always try new things and keep pushing what we know about robotics.”
The Wired Boars had a successful showing at the New England District Championship in Worcester, Massachusetts at WPI and received an award for highest rookie seed after ranking 36 out of 64 teams. The Wired Boars are looking to compete in a single-day state tournament in May since they were unable to attend the Worlds competition as a rookie. As for next year, the team is excited to invite new members to the ARC program and is even striving to qualify for the World’s Competition.
