Monadnock Ledger-Transcript – Team Inconceivable qualifies for FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston
After competing in the FIRST Robotics District Championships in Springfield, Mass., Peterborough-based FIRST Robotics Competition Team Inconceivable is headed for the FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston April 17 to 20.
In Houston, the team will compete against the best high school robotics teams from around the country, as well as teams from Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, Mexico, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
“It’s been an incredible couple of days,” said coach Brighid Wood of Greenfield. “We competed over three days, and on Saturday, we were part of a three-team alliance that won our division.”
At the district championships April 4 to 6, Team Inconceivable was allied with FRC team 131 CHAOS, a 4-H club team from Manchester; and FRC 6329, The Bucks’ Wrath, a team from Bucksport, Maine. The three-team alliance placed second overall in a field of nearly 100 teams.
Since the annual four-month FIRST Robotics build and competition season launched in January, Team Inconceivable has been engineering its 100-pound industrial-sized robot, the Revenge, to compete in a fast-paced, points-based game in which involves navigating a volleyball-court sized competition field at 20 feet per second.
“Every year we start from scratch and learn by doing every step of building a totally new robot,” stated Kade Fletcher of Greenfield, a high school junior and the team’s drive team captain and lead driver.
Team Inconceivable is coached by lead mentors Andre and Brighid Wood of Greenfield. Other volunteers include college students and team alumni Cedric Wildes of Temple, Emma Charland of Brandeis University, Josh Charland of the University of New Hampshire and River Cyr-Underwood of Sharon.
“Being on this robotics team was transformative for my life,” Wildes stated after the team’s success in West Springfield. “The FIRST Robotics motto is ‘gracious professionalism,’ and this means being good to others in every aspect of your life, not just robotics.”
David Underwood of Sharon and Roland Wildes of Temple serve as mentors for programming the Revenge in the autonomous phase of each competition match.
Brighid Wood noted that FIRST Robotics Team members learn STEM-focused skills by engaging in all stages of the robot-building process, from CAD-based design, to machining their own materials, to prototyping, testing and problem-solving over time.
“It’s been amazing to be taught by the team mentors to use complex machines such as the Omio metal cutter,” stated high school sophomore and drive team operator Joseph Hodgen.
Jacob Wyatt of Chesterfield, an eighth-grader and the team’s youngest member, stated the team has learned that “the key to successful competition lies in cooperation.”
Team Inconceivable is always looking for new members, whether they have experience in robotics or are just curious to learn more about it. Interested students can find Team Inconceivable on Facebook.
“The nature of a high school team is that we are always looking for the next generation of kids who want to jump into learning more about robotics,” stated Andre Wood. “Our mission is to spread enjoyment of STEM subjects within the Monadnock community.”
The team has created a fundraiser to help pay for the upcoming trip to Texas.
“We only have 10 days to make this dream a reality. We spent all day yesterday trying to find flights to Houston,” Brighid Wood said. “The registration fee alone is $5,750. We’re trying to make sure that everyone can attend, so we’re trying to pay for as much of the trip for the students as possible.”
The team is accepting donations and sponsorships at fundly.com/help-send-frc-team-1729-to-the-robotics-world-championships or at their Venmo account at @Team_Inconceivable. Donors can also mail checks written out to Team Inconceivable to PO Box 305, Greenfield, NH 03047.
