N.E.R.D., Offseason Trainings, Crowdfunding Kickoff
A couple weeks ago, the Lobstah Bots attended the New England Robotics Derby (N.E.R.D.)! Hosted by team 4909 at Billerica Memorial High School, the offseason event heralded more driver tryouts, scouting practice, and constant maintenance for the pits crew. It was a thrill to for over ten new students to dive into the event— even helping out on drive team! As captain of the eighth seed alliance, our scouting team selected team 9443 Aluminum Panthers (of West Newbury), team 5459 Ipswich TIGERS (of Ipswich), and team 1474 Titans (of Tewksbury) to join us. It was wonderful to get back into competition and to see so many involved new students!
Students dance the Cupid Shuffle during a match break
Luke Chang ‘25, Teddy Shi ‘27, Sabina Sandrasagra ‘28, and Kaya Ciamarra ‘28 wheel Woodpecker to a match
Since then, we have been hard at work training our new members! In electrical training, students have learned to house, crimp, and connect electrical components, as well as general electrical layout. Mechanical training projects have included building a grape catapult and a mini cart, aimed at teaching new lobstahs how to use the mill, bandsaws, drill press, and sander. In programming and cad trainings, students have begun laying the foundations for robot code and computer aided design.
Ryo Takei (Mentor), trains students on the mill for the cart project
In an effort to reorganize our space, we rolled out a new shop layout this week! The new design was planned out using Computer Aided Design (CAD), and emphasizes zoning to contain clutter and create differently focused workspaces. All the new areas come with snazzy new names- from cooking up CAD and code in “Chowdah Kitchen” down to fabrication in “Boston Bay,” each subteam is thrilled to “zone in” with their own space!
A to-scale computer-modeled new layout of our shop workspace.
And one last announcement!… Our crowdfunding page is live! We are asking for your help to cover costs of registration, parts, and transportation. FIRST Robotics is an incredible opportunity, and we rely on donations from people like you to make it possible! Check out the crowdfunding page here, open for 30 days.
If you want to be more involved or have any questions, you can email us at lobstahbots@gmail.com and we would be happy to respond!
Sincerely,
The Lobstah Bots
