2025 Kickoff Newsletter

On January 4th, 2025, Team 1403 hosted their 19th annual Kickoff event at Montgomery High School in Skillman, NJ. With 37 teams in attendance, our team held various workshops and panels regarding topics like alliance selection, sensors and pneumatics, the history of FRC, and women in STEM. After these workshops, the teams gathered to watch the 2025 FRC Reefscape game reveal, officially marking the beginning of our build season.

Our team’s workshops and panels provided useful information on robot-related subjects. In the Mentor Panel, team mentors were able to have an open discussion about common questions.  Meanwhile students led the Alliance Selection Strategy workshop which explained methods for choosing alliance partners. They covered  methods to identify other robots’ capabilities and how their complementary skills would add in a potential alliance. At our Sensors and Pneumatics workshop, the team detailed how the components operate through an electrical and programming standpoint, highlighting the pros and cons of different systems. Additionally, tutorials were held on building Bumpers and CAD (Computer Aided Design). During build season, mastery of these engineering skills are invaluable in ensuring a team’s success. 

Along with engineering and strategy workshops, 1403 held multiple workshops in non-engineering related subjects. Our Media 101 workshop explained camera principles, photo composition, and editing in order to help teams elevate their social media. The team’s FRC history workshop highlighted the highest achieving robots in past years, explaining the qualities that led to their success, as well as how to apply these qualities to their own robot. For our Women in STEM panel, the team was joined by Control Systems Engineer Jenna Mollica, Software Developer Pallavi Chennupat, and Rutgers Assistant Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical engineering Dr. Xiaoli Bai. All three presenters have years of leadership experience in their respective fields, showcasing spectacular analytical and technical skills. They described how they faced a lack of female representation when beginning their STEM careers. These inspiring women exemplify the importance of hard work and dedication in breaking barriers and overcoming challenges in STEM. 

Following the workshops, the teams gathered in the auditorium to watch the premiere of this year’s game, Reefscape. The live stream opened with numerous FIRST alumni and members detailing their time on the team, and how their experiences shaped who they are today. Finally, the time came for this year’s FRC game reveal. Reefscape is an ocean-conservation themed game that involves two alliances who must harvest “algae” and place “coral” on their respective “reef” to score points. As part of this game, our team’s robot must be able to effectively grab, transport, and precisely place game pieces in their designated areas. Compared to previous years, this game is challenging because of the game pieces’ varying shapes and sizes, many of which require more complex intaking and scoring systems. Additionally, due to the abundance of elements on the field, it will be difficult for our drive team to view the robot. For more information you can watch the game reveal on the FIRST Youtube channel.

After kickoff, 1403 held a full-team brainstorming session where all subteams analyzed the game animation and manual. They conceptualized ideas for the 2025 robot’s drivetrain, shooting mechanism, and electrical components with the help of our mentors. Entering the build season, members will be taking on a rigorous meeting schedule in order to build the robot in time for our first competition. Our hard work will be worth it when we see our robot in action at it’s first competition; the FMA District Hatboro-Horsham Event on February 28. With creativity, determination, and teamwork, we’re ready to turn our ideas into reality and make this season one to remember!