Chatham Robotics Team Takes On World Championship

CHATHAM, NJ - For the second year in a row, one of the two Chatham High School Robotic teams advanced to the FIRST Technology Challenge (FTC) World Championship.

The //Cougars earned their spot at the World Championship by being on the division finalist team at the NJ State Championship in March.

After a final month of preparation, the team arrived in Detroit, Mich. on Wednesday, April 24 for the first of a four day competition. The championship kicked off after teams passed rigorous inspections to ensure all robots met tournament specifications and requirements followed by the team interview.

This judged interview takes place in a closed room with a panel of three judges for twenty minutes. Teams are given 10-12 minutes to present their teams journey that season to the best of their ability, while also enlightening the judges on connections they have made with the greater STEM community and their individual team outreach, as well as speaking to how they have fundraised to sustain their team in the future.

The //Cougars walked the judges through their design process discussing their successes, their failures, and - most importantly - how they overcame those failures that brought them to this world stage.

They highlighted their mentorship program with Chatham Middle School’s robotics team and how their fundraising efforts had helped secure over 55 thousand dollars in the past two years alone helping them cover all cost of the trip to Detroit.

Over the course of the next three days, //Cougars competed in the qualification matches, hoping to end the week ranked high enough to earn a slot in the semi-finals. //Cougars battled it out each and every match, scoring some of their highest scores this season.

Even with their best performances to date, the //Cougars ended the qualification match with a record of 2-7.

"Despite our robot not operating to its fullest capabilities in the first few matches of the competition, we are all so proud of how the week ended. In our last five matches, our robot operated exactly as we wanted it to, so, even though we didn't win, it was very rewarding to watch all of our hard work pay off. Attending Worlds was an incredible experience and we're all hoping that we will be able to attend again next year!" said Emily Lamb, junior co-captain of the //Cougars.

• Photo caption 1: From left, Leigh McCaffrey, Rachel Thompson, Tessa Mason, Co-captain Emily Lamb, Co-captain Jason Furda, Jackson DeVico, Joydeep Singh, coach Julie Ryan
• Photo caption 2: The team at the Welcome Party held at Ford Field. From left, Rachel Thompson, Jackson DeVico, Emily Lamb, Leigh McCaffrey, Jason Furda, Tessa Mason, Joydeep Singh.
• Photo caption 3: Drive team before the start of a match. Team coach and co-captain Emily Lamb and drive team co-captain Jason Furda and Jackson DeVico
• Photo caption 4: Jackson DeVico, Leigh McCaffrey, Tessa Mason, Rachel Thompson, Emily Lamb, Jason Furda, and Joydeep Singh.

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