2018 Season Wrap Up

Groton Dunstable Robotics Team 2018 Season Wrap Up

Ginger Vollmar, Publicity for the GDRHS Robotics Team

The Groton Dunstable High School Robotics team, “The Robotomies”, have completed the FIRST Robotics “FIRST Power Up” competitions for 2018.  It was an interesting season with a mix of highs and lows and a lot of redesigning and rebuilding at competitions.

After six solid weeks of designing, prototyping, building and programming the robot, we attended our first competition at WPI on March 2nd and 3rd.  The team placed relatively low in this competition, due to problems with the robotic arms and arm mounts as well as software and field connectivity problems. The second competition was held at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI on March 24th and 25th.  Our students put in countless hours redesigning and rebuilding the robotic arms (which still caused several issues, but worked well when operable) and ended up placing much better than we did in the first competition.

We have a strong group of seniors who will be leaving us at the end of the school year.  They will be missed as they comprise about one third of the team members.  The juniors will take the lead next year and continue to learn and work with the younger students.  Leadership positions for next year have already been voted on and decided and will follow the updated club charter and constitution created earlier this year.  We have a lot of faith in these students and are confident we will be in good hands next year.

You can visit our web site at www.robotomies.com for more information about the Robotomies or like us on Facebook at “GD Team 1277”.

The Robotics team depends on team mentors (technical and non-technical) who are volunteers from the community as well as Mr. Mark  Rocheleau, the Robotics teacher at the High School.  The team is always looking for more mentors who have experience in machining, engineering, programming, marketing, business, or project management.  A big shout out to Mr. Rocheleau for his dedication to this team.  Roch goes above and beyond what should ever be expected of a team mentor.  He is awesome and the team loves him!

All funding for the Robotics team is privately raised.  The Robotomies are thrilled to have gotten more sponsors this year.  We would like to thank all of our current sponsors who provide funding for the entrance fees for the FIRST competitions and for materials.  Thank you to: The Society for American Military Engineers; Raytheon; Ted Lapres & Connie Keeran Fund; Mercury Systems; IBM Northeast Community Grant Program; Solidworks;  MJR Engineering Co.; Hollingsworth & Vose; L3 Advanced Programs; Draper Labs; Groton Dunstable Education Foundation (GDEF); the Justin Maynard Memorial STEM Innovation Scholarship; the Hughson Family; the Breton Family; the Battles Family; the DiFranco Family; the Han Family; the McKinley Family; the Prescott Family; and the Kelly-Maciel Family.   Additional sponsorships are always welcomed and appreciated.

If you have questions or would like to help support the Robotics team, please contact Mr. Mark Rocheleau at mrocheleau@gdrsd.org.