Build season is in full swing for 612—the CHS Robotics Team—as they prototype, program, build and wire a robot to enter in the FIRST Robotics Competition: Rapid React. The 2022 kick-off, where the game manual is released and teams brainstorm ideas, introduced a new challenge for teams to tackle. 

Robots must score points by picking up and depositing cargo into hubs as well as traversing a row of inclined rungs, with point values increasing as the rungs go on. The team’s 80 plus members are split between four subteams—mechanical, programming, electrical and marketing—with each one responsible for an integral part of the build process.

Gallery • 9 Photos

Shivani Sethu

Junior Tanuj Bhat creates a 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model of the robot’s intake feature so that the part can be prototyped, built and added to the final robot. When build season begins, all four subteams work together to develop a strategy for their robot before captains and executives consult with team mentors to finalize decisions. To begin the build process, each feature must be designed on CAD software by the mechanical subteam so that they have measurements for each part.