2025 STEM Spectacular!

SAVE THE DATE

Nov 22 2025, 10:00 AM

Event will be free to attend and open to the public.

Register Here

Burlington High School
10 AM to 3 PM

Celebrate all things science, technology, engineering, math and of course, ROBOTS!

• Arts & crafts*
• Games
• STEM clubs
• Local STEM companies
• 2024 team sponsors
• Door and raffle prizes*

*cost applies

EXHIBITORS WANTED

FREE Exhibitor registration now open:
Sign up HERE

About three weeks ago our team competed in our first competition for this season in Revere! During the competition Mechanical team worked closely with members of Pit crew and a few Software people to enusre the robot was functioning properly.

After each match Pit crew would conduct a check to make sure every part of the robot worked. Software team spentt the majorirty of the time fixing small bugs that seeped through the develpment. They also helped Pit crew find any problems. Pit crew also runs a check on the robot and makes sure everything is connected, along with testing the parts of the robot that move such as the climbers and the elevator. A big part of competiton is scouting. Which is when someone takes a look at a robot and determines how well it does based on points scored and algae and coral, then you give them a star rating. This process is done for 1 robot each round but there are multiple people scouting so an entire allaince can be covered. During competition Business team mainly worked on managing the food sitation and posting on social media.

One of the more important tasks the business team handled tonight was making Meme Buttons! Making these buttons is a big part of expressing the less serious and silly side of our team. Each year they create new meme buttons designs and spend a few weeks constructing them to be handed out at competitions. Since teamwork makes the dream work, around two to three people work on buttons to make the process go by faster. Another task they’ve been working on is the sponsor logo stickers, which are put on the robot. To thank all of our generous sponsors, the business team also wrote letters to them, detailing how the sponsorships have helped the team. Lastly, to ensure we see everyone at competition, the business team figured out the logistics of rides to and from the competitions. We’re excited to meet everyone at Revere!

In addition to the Business team’s hard work the Mechanical and the Software teams has been working extra days and extra hours to ensure we are match-ready!

With competition coming just around the corner in a week, the team has been working extra hard to finish all our tasks!

Today, the Software team is testing the robot to see if it can place coral onto the reef effectively. The mechanical team is working on setting up the pit, fixing the signs, and they made new lettering. The business team is currently figuring out the logistics of food and transportation for next week.

With the competition approaching, each team is making sure they are doing their part to help the team and finish the robot. The CAD team is currently designing the lift motor for the algae handler and creating the energy chain for the elevator which carries the wires that power part of the robot such as the arm and algae intake. The mechanical team is currently building the elevator, specifically the parts that mount onto the robot. They are also redesigning our marquee sign for the pit. The programming team is bringing the sub parts to life by coding the arm, climber, etc. The business team is making sure hotels are booked, meme buttons are made, and everyone’s fed. They are also making sure everyone is up to date with what is happening with the team by posting blogs and on instagram such as this one!

Sprint Four has been a busy week for the whole team. Each sub team has worked hard to complete their tasks for this week!

Mechanical this week is in the process of building the elevator, making the alpha version of the coral (intake) funnel, making sure critical supplies are ordered, converting Compbot swerve modules to L2 gears, building the coral arm, rigging the elevator to the motor, and planning the limit switch locations.

This week the Software team has been working on implementing autonomous mobility and achieving delivery of one note and is testing in simulation. They were unfortunately blocked from doing the elevator and arm testing on Protobot.

The CAD team is currently working on determining SLAM camera locations. These cameras are used when programming to know where the robot is on the field, and scan April Tags, which are codes similar to QR codes that are printed on paper and mounted in specific locations all over the competition playing field (and on our practice field elements!). They’re also finishing the intake funnel, the elevator, and the coral manipulation arm and doing the Littleton Elevator geometry, modeling the SLAM cameras, and adding the elevator lift shaft to the elevator. A Littleton Elevator is a lifting mechanism designed and shared freely by Littleton Robotics Team 6328.

This shows a practice Field Element (the Coral Reef) with an April Tag.

The Electrical team is working on finishing wiring Protobot and installing the wires for limit switches!

The Business team is currently working on updating the rough sketch for a new pit design (planned for next season), posting on Instagram (@DevilBotz2876), and updating the presentation slideshow for pitching our team to prospective sponsors. As well, one of our mentors is updating the branding/masthead design of this website.

The Strategy team has been working on making and telling poeple to fill out the Drive Team interest forms.

India day was a day where many companies set up their booths in the hallways of Burlington High School and promoted their products by offering or selling goodies to gain new customers. Our goal was similar: we wanted to enlighten the community about our robotics team. To do so, we offered a wooden robot for kids to build as we informed the parents about what we do and how we need to do it. Some parents donated money to us and others encouraged their kids to talk to us and ask us questions. Kids loved to color in their robots and learn how to assemble them, learning about how pulling one string moves both the arms and legs of the robot. To us, our effort was worth it. We loved to see the smiles on the kids’ faces as they made their new robot friends!

The 2025 FIRST Robotics season has officially started! On January 4th, 2025, we had our kick-off, a meeting where the whole team got together to watch FIRST announce the challenge for this year: Reefscape™. This year’s challenge is based on strengthening the earth’s underwater ecosystem.

Unlike last year’s competition when robots had to shoot Notes into tall structures called Speakers, this year the main way to score points is by placing Coral (short lengths of PVC) on the Reef (a tall structure with various branches). Of course, this is just one way to score points. Our team is working on the best possible strategies to strengthen our chances of winning. Fortunately, we have had about 15 new members joining us this year with their unique ideas! We’re excited to see what this year’s challenge and team members have to offer.

Make sure to check in next week for a new update!

The Agile Training presentation that our Mini FRC Challenge (“MiniBotz!”) teams learned from today is in a Google Slides presentation. Link here:

DevilBotz Agile Training

DevilBotz teamwork

Our new favorite team-building activity: Real Life Connections. For those who don’t know Connections, it’s a game made by the New York Times. The original game consists of 16 separate words which are grouped by the player into four categories that have something in common. The categories can be anything from capital cities to words that simply rhyme. The player must decide which words on their screen should be sorted into which categories. The player has four tries to complete this puzzle. If more than four mistakes are made, the game will end and the categories will reveal themselves.

Our real-life version of the NYT online game had the same idea, but of course we made a few changes. First, similar to the online game, we made four categories: Sharp Objects, Decorative Items, Stationary Items, and Mini Objects. From there, we found objects that fit into the categories, such as school supplies, desk ornaments, and Barbie accessories. We added all these objects into five shoeboxes and handed out the boxes to the five teams (each team had about 6-7 people). In 15 minutes, teams had to sort out the objects. During this time, members of the business team walked around the room assisting any team that wanted us to check their answers or needed hints. By the end of the activity, two teams had all the connections Congrats to them!

Stay tuned for more activities!!