The Saturday of September 7, members of the junior varsity robotics team attended their competition kickoff event for the 2024 First Tech Challenge (FTC) season at Kings Academy, where they learned the details of this year’s season. The season is called “Into the Deep,” where teams must build robots that are able to execute complicated maneuvers with specially shaped objects, both autonomously and with manual control. Led by their coach, Mr. Jackrel, the team will build their robot and participate in qualifiers and possibly regional and state matches October through March.

In previous years, the varsity team, once in charge of FTC, placed as high as second place in qualifier matches. This year’s junior varsity team is comprised of the hardware subteam, led by Anya Bharti; the software subteam, led by Jason Lin; and the business subteam, led by Siddarth Chippada. Currently, the hardware team is working on building a second robot for its upcoming matches, while the software team is getting practice driving around the previous robot and programming its components while they wait for the new robot to be completed, and the business team works on coordinating sponsorships and publicity events for the team.

Good luck to the junior varsity team in their upcoming competitions!