History / Photos

2019-2020 Season

See the photos page for the 2019-2020 photos.

2018-2019 Season

We began our twelfth season at the Academy for Science and Design with an optimistic outlook for the year. We started the season off strong by attending RoboExpo and Governer’s Cup, raising awareness for the team and winning the Gracious Professionalism Award. At the Governer’s Cup event, we also won an award for being part of the finalist alliance. During the 2018-2019 season, our team introduced a new training system known as cross-training, a training routine that allowed students on different subteams to receive experience in various other fields. During the month of November, the team organized a week-long simulated build season event known as Mini-Build. During the week, all the subteams collaborate in order to make a winch. At the turn of the new year, the team spent a weekend discussing robot design and game strategy, allowing all voices to be heard when brainstorming the robot. At the district event located in Bedford, the team won the Entrepreneurship Award for the 5th consecutive time, allowing us to progress further into the competition. We also won the Imagery Award at the regional UNH competition.

Lessons of the Year:

  1.  Reusing parts from previous robots in order to save money
  2. Expanding our training program by introducing cross-training allowing students to learn more about other subteams
See the photos page for the 2018-2019 photos.

2017-2018 Season

See the photos page for the 2017-2018 photos.

2016-2017 Season

See the photos page for the 2016-2017 photos.

2015-2016 Season

We began our ninth season at Daniel Webster College where we met for the unveiling of First Stronghold and an exciting new build season. First Stronghold was a complicated challenge with multiple field configurations which resulted in over 100 possibilities. This made it much more difficult for the team to decide upon the strategy they would adopt for the robot. Our original strategy was to breach as many defenses as possible while maintaining a strong high goal shooting robot. Problems with vision and sensors led us to be a predominately defense breaching robot with a reliable autonomous. We competed at the NE District Granite State Event where we ranked 18 and won the Imagery Award and the Industrial Safety Award. We also competed in the NE District UNH event where we ranked 13 and won the Entrepreneurship Award.  The team also helped to coordinate and organize DWC’s ninth annual FLL tournament in the fall of 2015.

Lessons of the year:

  1. Prioritize learning over winning and remember that it is possible to be successful without winning the blue banner.
  2. Leveraging our sponsors was extremely beneficial this year. One of our sponsors printed our designs which helped us win the imagery award.

See the photos page for the 2015-2016 photos.

2014-2015 Season

In our eighth season, the team gathered at Daniel Webster College for another exciting kickoff and start of the build season. Our past seasons had been rough in competitions for rankings, but in our 2014-2015 season we placed second in qualifiers at the Granite State District Event and first in qualifiers in the UNH District Event. We won two awards, the Industrial Safety Award at the Granite State District Event and the Entrepreneurship Award at the UNH District Event. Not only did we place well in most of our district and regional events, we had the ability to go to the World’s competition in St. Louis. A possibility to why we did so well may have been from our growth in student population. Near the end of the season we attended the annual Battle Cry event at Worcester Polytechnic Institute the college holds every year. Many team members drove the robot and had fun messing around with robot controls for the first time. The 2014-2015 season was truly our most successful season thus far. The team also helped to coordinate and organize DWC’s eighth annual FLL tournament in the fall of 2014.

Lessons of the year:

  1. Building your student population is vital for a good year.
  2. Having an exceptional autonomous can be crucial to succeed at a competition.
See the photos page for the 2014-2015 photos.

2013-2014 Season

In our seventh season, the team attended the Build Season kickoff and unveiling event at WPI in Worcester, MA. The team’s robot was well recognized for its ability to shoot over the truss from across the field. The team competed at the NE FIRST Granite State District Event and the NE FIRST Pine Tree District Event, where we received the Judges Award, due to the fact that our team managed to triple in size after we had only seven key students remaining from the previous year. In the “Post Season,” we participated in Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Battle Cry and Merrimack High School’s Mayhem in Merrimack competitions. The team also worked very closely with Daniel Webster College to help coordinate and organize their seventh annual FLL tournament in the fall of 2013.

Lessons of the year:

  1. Systems is important to build the robot before the deadline.
See the photos page for the 2013-2014 photos.

2012-2013 Season

In our sixth season, the team attended the BAE Systems kickoff and unveiling events in Manchester, NH. The team’s robot was well recognized for the use of its Geneva Mechanism as a creative method of loading the frisbee and shooting it. The team competed at the BAE Systems Granite State Regional, where we received the Creativity Award due to the use of a leaf blower in our shooting mechanism (robot animation). In the “Post Season,” we participated in Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Battle Cry competition. The team also worked very closely with Daniel Webster College to help coordinate and organize their sixth annual FLL tournament in the fall of 2012.

Lessons of the year:

  1. Jags are heavy, old, and they malfunction.
  2. You really need about a week of test time, we only had a day.
  3. Most importantly: Don’t try and do everything!
See the photos page for the 2012-2013 photos.

2011-2012 Season

See the photos page for the 2011-2012 photos.

2010-2011 Season

See the photos page for the 2010-2011 photos.

2009-2010 Season

See the photos page for the 2009-2010 photos.

2008-2009 Season

See the photos page for the 2008-2009 photos.

2007-2008 Season

In our first season, the team attended the BAE Systems kickoff and unveiling events at Nashua South High School. The team’s robot was well recognized for the use of a COTS (Commercial off-the-shelf) aluminum extension ladder as a simple but reliable method of lifting an exercise ball up and over the field obstacle. The team competed at the BAE Systems Granite State Regional, where we received the Rookie All-Star Award, qualifying the team to compete at the Championship competition in Atlanta. We competed in the Championship and then returned to New England to participate in Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Battle Cry and Merrimack High School’s Mayhem in Merrimack competitions. The team also worked very closely with Daniel Webster College to help coordinate and organize their first FLL tournament in the fall of 2007.

Each year is a learning experience and the two key lessons learned that carry forward into today’s Team 2342 robots include:

  1. Center drive chassis are tricky to drive
  2. Positive control of appendages is required at all times – the ladder was powered up but relied on gravity to retract which was reliable until something unexpected adds friction, like another robot, field piece or wear & tear.
See the photos page for the 2007-2008 photos.