SJ Robotics - Undefeated, AGAIN!

The Saint John’s High School Pioneer Robotics Team has had a phenomenal year so far. After going undefeated and winning the prestigious Inspire Award in their last qualifier at Lexington High School, the team clinched one of only 32 spots in the state championship. On February 9, the team went undefeated again in the Hadley qualifier. Currently, the team is preparing for the Massachusetts FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) State Championship at Natick High School on Saturday, March 2.

At Hadley, Pioneer Robotics went 9-0 through 9 matches. They came in 1st place and also won the Motivate Award, which is given to the team that is involved in its community through outreach events, actively promotes STEM education, and embodies the spirit of FTC.FIRST Tech Challenge is an international robotics competition with more than 5,000 participating teams from around the world. Participating teams must design, build, and program a robot capable of completing a set of challenges.  Each year’s set of challenges is different from those of prior years. During the first 30 seconds of all matches, the robot completes tasks autonomously. That is, the robot makes decisions based on preprogrammed instructions. Then, for two minutes, the robot is remotely controlled by a team of two drivers.

FIRST Tech Challenge incorporates a diversity of technical and non-technical activities, including mechanical engineering, outreach to the community, promotion of STEM, programing, and Computer Assisted Design. Pioneer Robotics finished as state-wide runner-up in the 2018 championship during its rookie year, and is working toward improving on that finish this year.