About Us

Bobcat Robotics, FIRST team #177, has been competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition since 1995. One of the unique features of our team is the number of members who graduate, obtain a degree in engineering, and return to the team as mentors. This has been a large contributor to our success over the years and to the continued interest of the South Windsor students. The team currently consists of nine engineering professionals, four of which attended South Windsor High School and participated on the Bobcat Robotics team.

To the students, the robotics team is more than just another extra-curricular activity. Being involved in FIRST is a valuable learning experience that readies students for a multitude of career paths. Bobcat Robotics is comprised of mechanical, CADD, electrical, programming, media and fundraising sub-teams. Each of these sub-teams has a student leader and plays a major role in completing the robot. While tasks are divided amongst the sub-teams, cooperation between them is essential to achieving success as a whole.

Although the competition and build season for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) begins in January, Bobcat Robotics is constantly busy throughout the year. September through December is designated as the Bobcat pre-season. During the pre-season, students develop fundamental skills that are needed to complete the building of the robot. These skills include operation of manufacturing machinery (CNC milling, lathe, band saw, etc.), Labview programming, AutoDesk Inventor, Photoshop, and Final Cut Pro. In September students choose an area of interest and until January work on small preseason projects that are designed to develop these skills. These projects are typically developed by the experienced student leadership to help the new students prepare for the build season.

Build Season begins in early January with the Kickoff Event. For the next six weeks the Bobcat Robotics students and mentors work to strategize, design, prototype, build and program a robot that can overcome the challenges posed by the year’s FRC game. On average, students put in more than ten hours a week throughout build season.

The Bobcats spend the first few meetings following Kickoff discussing the rules and possible methods of overcoming the difficulties of the game. Once a few designs have been considered, the team splits into prototyping groups, each of which includes members from a variety of the sub-teams previously mentioned. Students work closely with mentors to test and measure which designs are the most effective, and ultimately each group makes a presentation to the team. Following the prototyping process comes a very busy period of manufacturing and assembling the competition robot.

While many engineering professionals are assisting student members in the building of the robot, the fundraising and media sub-teams are also hard at work writing for grants, soliciting donations from local businesses and putting together award submissions. Bobcat Robotics is fortunate to have parent and mentor support in these endeavors. A few of the accomplishments of this group include hosting a pasta dinner and silent auction as well as capturing video footage of the team.

Even when ship date passes in mid-February, the Bobcat Robotics team remains quite busy. Students continue to work on engineering, fundraising and video projects throughout competition season. The year is not complete until a pot-luck dinner is held in May or June, with alumni and parents returning to celebrate another year with the team as well as the graduation of another class of Bobcat high school seniors.

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