Wildbots and Wirecats Win Big

Congratulations to the Winsor Robotics Club for their outstanding performance at the FIRSTⓇ Tech Challenge (FTC) State Robotics Competition on March 5, 2022! The Wildbots were awarded the Industrial Design Award which celebrates the team that demonstrates industrial design principles, striking a balance between form, function, and aesthetics. In addition, Audrey Cheng ’23 made the finalist round for the Dean’s List, an honor which recognizes an individual student’s significant contributions, including: demonstrated leadership and commitment to the FIRST Core Values, effectiveness at increasing awareness of FIRST in the school and the community, interest in and passion for a long-term commitment to FIRST, overall individual contribution to the team, technical expertise and passion, entrepreneurship and creativity, and the ability to motivate and lead fellow team members.

The success at States was the highlight of a season that began with a significant milestone for the Winsor Robotics Club, which was founded in 2017 with a mission to elevate gender minorities in STEM. In the fall of 2021, the number of students in grades 7-12 that turned out to join the club was more than twice the number allowed on a competing team. The returning members of the Wildbots were thrilled by the outpouring of interest.

“We worked really hard on recruitment over the summer—we held workshops; reached out to students via Instagram, announcements, and the club fair; and held multiple open meetings. All of our hard work paid off at our first meeting when over 40 people showed up! This was both shocking, scary, and exciting—Winsor Robotics Club interest has never been this high,” says Cheng, one of three team heads. “We wanted to make sure that everyone would have an active role on the team, and 40 people working on the same robot doesn’t really work, so we decided to split into two teams. After all, if we doubled in size, why not double the work (and the fun)?”

The Winsor Wildbots (FTC #13620) and the newly formed Winsor Wirecats (FTC #20409) worked closely together throughout the season. To optimize efficiency and encourage students to explore their interests in the multifaceted nature of STEM, each team is divided into three sub-groups: building, coding, and business. Leading up to the first qualifier, there was a natural divide into two separate groups based on who was working on which mechanism and code, and the business sub-teams worked together to create two separate engineering portfolios and judging presentations. “We share the same space and will help each other with our robots, so the two teams only truly split when we attend competition,” says team head Abby Bohl ’22. 

The teams qualified for States following a strong showing at the FTC qualifier on February 12, 2022 at Andover High School. After receiving high praise for their portfolios and program outreach presentations in the morning, the Wirecats placed 10th and the Wildbots placed 18th based on scores accumulated during afternoon matches. In addition, the Wildbots won the Connect Award, awarded to the team that connects the most with people and local STEM companies outside of the FTC community; and the Wirecats won the Motivate Award, awarded to the team that embodies the spirit of FIRST and shows enthusiasm for the overall philosophy of gracious professionalism. “Even though the team is split in two at competitions,” notes Abby, “we are all part of the Winsor Robotics Club and the successes of one team are the successes of the entire club.” 

“We’re ecstatic to have successfully formed a second team,” adds team head Liza Kuntz ’23, noting that “having two teams and therefore two robots has allowed us to expand the program, and to help each of our team members spend more time with the robot.” Reflecting on the transformational year, and looking ahead to next year, she says, “We’ve learned a lot about how to organize two teams and are excited to do it again next year now that we know what parts of our first attempt worked and didn’t work.”

The Winsor Robotics Club is also looking forward to another milestone in the fall of 2022: a new work space dedicated for use by the two teams. After years scheduling meetings and work time around classes and class projects in the iLab, the students are eager to have a space of their own that “will allow us to spend less time setting up equipment at each meeting and to create a space that reflects our team members’ personalities,” says Liza. The room will be installed over the summer, in time for the Wildbots and Wirecats to charge into another season.

To learn more about Winsor Robotics’ teams, robots, and outreach, and to follow news and events, go to www.winsorrobotics.com