CSW has been involved with the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) since 2014, competing as the Gryphons (Team 5347). Each season, over 3,000 teams around the world work together to design and build robots, utilizing mechanical and electrical engineering and computer science skills. Team robots then compete in a new and unique game, decided annually by FRC. This year’s game, REEFSCAPE, was themed around ocean life, with a focus on our valuable and wonderful ocean.

This year, Isabelle Parker ’25 and Cleo Chong ’26 served as mechanical co-heads, with James Chevalier ’27 as an additional mechanical team lead. Gaius McCubbin ’25 served as the head of the team’s electrical group, Max Lawton ’25 served as the head of software, and Rayne Marinoff ’26 served as the head of fielding — building structures of the playing field for robot testing. The team is advised by the Math Department’s Proshanto Mukherji, alum Casey Alperovitz ’20, and Dan Kostyk P’27, a CSW parent and mechanical engineer. 

The 2024-25 season’s robot, named Seahorse, was the team’s 10th-ever robot and featured a two-stage elevator, making it over five feet tall when fully extended, the team’s tallest robot in recent years. This year’s competition required robots to clear and score large inflatable playground balls (“Algae”) and score pieces of PVC pipe (“Coral”) on different levels of a structure called the “Reef.”  Each two-minute and thirty-second match began with a 15-second autonomous period, after which drivers would control their robot.  

After fixing some minor issues discovered during practice matches in Revere, the team began official qualification matches with a quick and reliable robot capable of placing Coral on every level of the Reef.  To more quickly and accurately score, the robot used an auto-alignment code developed during the build season. With the help of the team’s expert software, driving, strategy, and a bit of luck, the team finished qualification matches with a rank of 10th out of 38 teams at the event.  

The performances allowed the team to become one of the eight alliance captains for the event. As an alliance captain, they gained the ability to pick two other teams to join them on an alliance during the playoff matches. Having never previously ranked well enough to be an alliance captain, this new experience served as an incredibly prideful and well-deserved moment for the team. During playoff matches, the 6th-seeded alliance was able to achieve some upset victories and place fourth.   

 

The second competition was held two weeks later at the University of New Hampshire. Here, the competition was intense, with 40 teams competing. Amongst some steeper competition, the team did well, ending with a ranking of 27, but came up slightly short of being selected to compete in the playoff matches. After a long two-mod season, producing a great robot, and a long van ride back, all the club’s members had a great time, and felt they represented CSW well.

 

The team’s work is still not done. There are team meetings to discuss the successes and failures of this year and possible future improvements. Packing and preparation for the move back to the newly renovated French Gym needs to be accomplished, and new heads of the groups need to be selected. In the meantime, everyone is excited about what the next FRC challenge will be, but that will have to wait until early January 2026, when the next FRC game is revealed and the long cycle of the build season starts again.  Rest assured that when the time comes, the Gryphons (Team 5347) will be ready to compete again!