A group of 11 Naperville high schoolers is preparing to compete in the FIRST Robotics Championship later this month, one of the largest youth robotics competitions in the world.
The teens, students at Neuqua and Waubonsie Valley High Schools, are all part of FIRST Tech Challenge Team 19652 Techineers, a team formed five years ago.
This year, for the first time, they are advancing to the FIRST championship in Houston, Texas, after beating more than 20 teams in the FTC Illinois Championship Tournament.
Team heads to robotics championship after five years competing
“It was just incredible just to hold that trophy in my hands and understand the work it has taken to get to that point,” said Tanish Lakshmanan, a senior at Neuqua Valley High School, who joined the team last year.
The boys said they hadn’t expected to make it that far in the competition, where only the top 336 teams in the world qualify for the championship.
“It felt kind of unreal, and I was just very happy, very, very proud of the progress that our team has made… because five years ago, we started with almost knowing nothing, and now we’ve built it to be one of the top teams in the world,” said Theodore Yuan, a junior at Neuqua, who has been on the team since its inception in 2021.
Robot built to take part in FTC DECODE challenge
The FTC season began back in September, and teams were tasked with building a semi-autonomous robot, no more than 18 by 18 inches, to take part in the season’s game: DECODE. The objective is for a robot to capture three “artifacts” or balls at a time and shoot them into a goal to gain points.
Dividing up the labor in groups, the team quickly began working on their build. It features a camera that tracks the goal on playing fields and an intake point where artifacts are sucked into the robot, transported to the top, and launched out.
“The building was only about two weeks. It was really the coding that was the hard part. We had to code our camera at the front of the robot to track the goal, where it was,” said Lakshmanan.
Once their robot was satisfactory, the team began competing in regional competitions, making tweaks to their build as they progressed.
Each competition featured four key players: the driver who mans the overall machine, the auxiliary driver who keeps the turret aligned for accurate shooting, the coach who advises the driver on the best plays, and a human player who puts artifacts onto the field.
Students win state competition, advance to championship
The team played DECODE in several regional match-ups before qualifying for the state tournament at Northern Illinois University early last month.
There, they ultimately won first place, securing a spot in the upcoming FIRST championship, a four-day competition taking place April 29 to May 2.
“I was in a direct line of sight when we won, so it was just kind of surreal to see,” said Lakshmanan.
Yuan said it was a long time coming after falling short in previous years.
“Those times that we kind of failed to qualify, it kind of stings a little bit, but then, that really forces you and motivates you to work harder and accomplish our goals more. So after we qualified, I was just really, really happy. I was really proud of my team,” he said.
Preparations underway before FIRST Championship
With the championship only a few weeks away, the team is hard at work preparing to take on top teams from around the world, finetuning their current robot and even building a new, faster one. They are also fundraising to help cover parts for the new robot and travel costs.
While there are some nerves ahead of the big day, the boys say they’re ready to give it their best shot.
“It’s like a dream come true, qualifying for the FIRST championship. And, I’m really excited to see what we can do in Houston,” said Yuan.
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