Competition Robotics

My robotics team failed two years in a row. We kept trying, didn’t completely succeed in the end, but made it further than ever before.

My dad started a robotics group in 2022 in which we learnt arduino & cad, which competed in FTC from 2023 to 2025.

In 2023, the team had no experience with FTC and our prototyping was too slow.

As a team without a home workshop, we were limited to one design and building session per week for most of the season. The space that we hired for the duration of our sessions didn’t have storage, so we had to bring equipment in the car every week, and pack up again at the end of the session.

We didn’t have a field to test the robot accurately, and we didn’t complete our robot until the last minute so there wasn’t much time to test anyway. In 2023 we considered it a success simply to compete.

Our 2023 robot:

In 2024, our team was smaller and more focused. Our prototyping was better, and we also met more often once the game rules were released.

We needed more people in the team, and I was able to recruit someone I knew from outside who was dedicated and skilled. This year, we were much more focused and we used time more effectively. We began thinking ahead and chose drivers early in the season.

However, in the competition, the robot stalled so we had no chance of being competitive. Just the same, we won the Judges Choice Award. They praised our innovation in making our own assemblies rather than buying off-the-shelf.

Our 2024 robot:

In 2025, through practice our prototyping had become much quicker. I took more of a leadership role, learning to break down tasks and delegate.

Our programmer moved away. I could have learnt to fill that gap, but I chose instead to stay on CAD and mechanical design. I also coached our members in CAD, but since they didn’t have a lot of experience, I completed a lot of the CAD work at home. We competed in two qualifiers and won an Innovate Award and a Design Award.