“The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is designed for students in grades 7–12 to compete head to head, using a sports model. Teams are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots in a 10-week build period to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The robot kit is reusable from year-to-year and is programmed using Java or the MIT App Inventor. Teams, including coaches, mentors, and volunteers are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition as well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments. The ultimate goal of FTC is to familiarize young people with a lower-cost, more accessible opportunity to discover the excitement and rewards of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics” (Wikipedia). 

Our team is Technophobia, literally meaning fear of technology. We chose this name out of irony because we actually all love robotics. 2022-2023 is our fifth year competing. This year, we hope to qualify to the state competition and possibly worlds. Update: we did it!  We also plan on designing part of our robot in CAD (computer aided design) to ease the development of the robot.