GD Robotics (The Robotomies)

Groton Dunstable Robotics Team 2016 Competitions to be Held in March

By Ginger Vollmar, Publicity for the GDRHS Robotics Team

The Groton Dunstable High School Robotics team, fondly known as "The Robotomies", will be participating in the 2016 FIRST Robotics “FIRST Stronghold” competitions in March. The team has been working hard and meeting almost daily for the last six weeks to design, build, program and test their robot.

After the 2016 challenge was announced, the team spent time working on a design and trying to decide which aspects of the challenge to focus on. A major decision had to be made about whether to use treads or pneumatic wheels on the drive train of the robot. They used a grid weighting system to make the decision but in the end the cost of buying treads and the time needed to ship and manufacture them eliminated treads as a possibility. The other major components of the design are the swing arm and the articulating arm (which is double jointed), which are to be used for maneuvering through defenses on the “field of battle” which is the team’s main strategy for scoring points in the competition.

The first competition will be held at WPI’s Harrington Auditorium on March 12th – 13th (100 Institute Rd., Worcester, MA. Saturday 8:00 – 6:00 and Sunday 8:00 – 6:00).

The 2nd competition will be held at the Providence Career and Technology Academy on March 25th – 26th (41 Fricker St. Providence, RI. Friday 8:00 – 6:00 and Saturday 8:00 – 6:00).

The competitions are very exciting events and we hope to get more spectators to come out and cheer on the team this year. You can come for part of the day or the entire day. The actual schedule for the days of the competition is not known ahead of time but our team will have a number of matches during each of the days.

You can visit our web site at team1277.org for more information about the Robotomies or like us on Facebook at “GD Team 1277”.

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: Justin J. Maynard Memorial STEM Innovation Scholarship; The Department of Defense STEM Program; The Society for American Military Engineers; Raytheon; Ted & Connie Lapres Fund; Mercury Systems; Groton Board of Trade; IBM Northeast Community Grant Program; GE Oil & Gas; Solidworks; the Webber Restaurant Group; Harris Corporation; MJR Engineering Co.; the Hughson Family; and the Adams 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