'Lightspeed' Robotics Team Wins Local Qualifier

NATICK, MA- The three Natick High School students who make up the Lightspeed Robotics team earned another win at this past weekend's FIRST Tech Challenge qualifier.

Lightspeed is a private team that most recently won their first qualifier in December. This weekend's qualifier sits just between their previous one and the upcoming state competition on Mar. 2.

Team captain Adham Abji said the robot is the same one the team used for the December qualifier but revamped to be faster and more efficient. The event was held at Natick High School where 23 teams competed.

With another win under their belt the team can now move confidently into the state competition and start thinking of their future as a private team. Mother of two of the team members and team manager, Gopa Mukherjee, said the team is looking to expand next year. "We're looking for new members, maybe kids are new to robotics," she said.

With two of the three members of Lightspeed heading into their senior years, expansion will be necessary. "We don't want to pull kids from the Natick High School team at all," she said, making it clear that for both the teams the matches are about a friendly love of robotics. For that reason, Lightspeed is looking for newcomers and people who haven't found a team of their own yet.

While the team is still new, they are quickly proving to have a serious drive and local supporters as well. Natick's UPS store agreed to sponsor their state competition banner and notebooks and local real estate company Landmark Residential, Inc agreed to sponsor the team's T-shirts.

There's no doubt for that team that the weeks ahead will be filled with hours of tweaking and mastering their robot for the state competition- but for now they're taking some time to celebrate.

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Photo Credit: Lightspeed Robotics Team/ Gopa Mukherjee