Overview:
Chantilly Robotics participated in their first off-season event in Maryland: Battle o’ Baltimore
20 students designed a float for the Chantilly homecoming parade and represented 612 on the mile-long community celebration
Subteams continue working on pre-season tasks as members become acclimated to the team environment
OCTOBER 26, 2022, CHANTILLY, V.A. Team 612 kicked off October by celebrating Chantilly High School’s Homecoming week at the Homecoming Parade. Members showed off 612 spirit to the community as they tossed candy to children and yelled team chants for the mile-long parade in the Greenbriar community.
Arguably our biggest event this past month, we participated in the Battle O’ Baltimore at Dulaney HS, Timonium, Maryland, an event sponsored by the Maryland Robotics Alliance. Our new members gained a lot of experience in how a real competition works, specifically repairing robots and cheering (spirit awards are a thing, and we have the world record for team spirit!), something that is hard to achieve off-season. Although we didn’t win, our experience will surely strengthen our performance come kickoff.
Outside of off-season events and parades, 612 members continue to work on pre-season activities. A few experienced members of the mechanical subteam have worked on preparing the Phoenix robot for Battle o’ Baltimore. They designed the different parts in order to optimize the robot for the competition. Drive team has also been practicing for the Baltimore competition. To prepare, drivers are being trained on how to operate the robot and different strategies to utilize during competitions, practicing with Phoenix.
Within our programming subteam, our new members have delved into their first directly robot-based challenge, correcting the moving paths of Pololu-brand Romis: miniscule robots used by our team to teach new programmers how to implement coding knowledge to a real-life scenario. Electrical continued teaching new students pneumatic systems, tubing connections, and crimping. The marketing subteam introduced FIRST’s theme for the year to its members. By brainstorming on “FIRST Energize” marketing members work to produce new button and t-shirt designs for the team to wear during competitions and build season.
Without the support of sponsors like you, Team 612 would not be able to plan and offer such diverse outreach opportunities to promote STEM in our community. For Team 612 to continue providing opportunities to the next generation of STEM innovators, they need continued support from sponsors. For more details, please email chantilly.612@gmail.com or visit https://www.frc612.org/current-sponsors.
About Chantilly Robotics
At Chantilly Robotics Team 612, we brighten the future for leaders and student
technologists within our team, school and community through fun and engaging methods of
learning and teaching while shining a light on the importance of STEM (science, technology,
engineering, math). Chantilly Robotics was founded in 2001 with eight student members and has
grown to over 140 members in the 2020 season. Team 612 competes at FIRST Robotics
Competitions in the Chesapeake District and spreads STEM as well as FIRST values through
community outreach. For more information, visit https://www.frc612.org or email
chantilly.612@gmail.com. Chantilly Robotics Team 612 is a club within Chantilly Academy, a
public educational institution.