Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s robotics team, Team 303, attended the Crescendo Robotics competition at Hatboro-Horsham High School in Pennsylvania. It was a prestigious event organized by the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) organization.

Competing as a member of the FIRST Mid-Atlantic (FMA) region, the T.E.S.T. Team 303 demonstrated their best in hopes of progressing towards the FMA Championships. The event was held on March 2 and 3. 

FIRST is an international organization dedicated to inspiring young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Through engaging in robotics competitions and hands-on learning experiences, FIRST fosters teamwork, critical thinking and innovation. With a collaborative and supportive environment, FIRST enables students to develop valuable skills that extend beyond robotics.

Within the FIRST organization, teams are organized into regions, like FMA, comprised of teams within a specific geographical area. The FIRST Mid-Atlantic region conducts a series of regional events where teams compete for the opportunity to qualify for the FMA Championships, a highly anticipated regional competition held in April at Lehigh University.

The Hatboro-Horsham Robotics Competition served as the first of two FMA regional events for Team 303. This event brought together over thirty teams from the region to showcase their robots’ capabilities, strategic thinking and teamwork.

With a drive team consisting of junior Shivani Swarnakar as coach, senior Andrew Thoms as driver, sophomore Arya Vaidya as operator, junior Aritra Banerjee as technician and sophomore Anika Seshan as a human player, the team members were prepared for a weekend full of matches. The opening ceremonies began at 10 a.m. on Saturday, kicking off the event. 

The competition consisted of two main phases: qualification matches and playoffs. During the qualification matches, teams participated in a series of matches to accumulate ranking points based on their performance. These matches assessed the robots’ ability to complete specific tasks and collaborate effectively with alliance partners.

The ranking points determined the team’s position in the standings and influenced their selection for the playoffs. Due to several issues, Team 303 remained just a defense robot for most of the qualification matches. 

Each match was made up of three parts: autonomous, where the robot must run without human input and by itself; tele-op, where the drive team can use the remote control to control the robot; and endgame, where the robot scores the last and final points and attempts to hang on the chain located in the middle of the stage field. In addition, during the endgame phase, a human player attempts to throw one of the rings from the sidelines onto a small pole on the stage for a spotlight bonus point.

In the background, selected members of the team worked hard in the pits, working on the robot between matches, fixing any damage from the field and testing its mechanisms. This is also where FRC judges walked around, discussing the teams’ design of the robot and their outreach initiatives. This was used to determine teams’ eligibility for certain awards, including the FIRST Impact Award, one of the most prestigious FRC awards.

During qualification matches, teams “scouted,” or kept track of other teams’ performance to collect data for alliance selection later on. 

Team 303’s performance in the qualification matches caught the attention of other teams, including alliance captains who were responsible for selecting teams to join their alliance for the playoffs. Recognizing Team 303’s defense strategy and potential, another alliance captain from Trenton’s Team 5684 invited Team 303 to join their alliance for the playoffs. They were joined by team 4285 from Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

In the playoff rounds, Team 303 collaborated closely with their alliance partners, leveraging their respective strengths and weaknesses to maximize their chances of success. Each alliance competed against other alliances in a double-elimination bracket format. Despite their best efforts, the alliance was eventually eliminated from the competition after a series of intense matches.

Team 303 will next compete at Warren Hills Regional High School on March 23-24.