The 2024 FIRST robotics season, “Crescendo”, sprang into action worldwide this January. The specifics of this year’s challenge were announced on Jan. 6, 2024, at the kickoff event in Boyne City. Each alliance or temporary coalition of three robotics teams will compete against each other and gain ranking points based on certain goals and maneuvers they make on the field. 

Click here to see what the TC Titans are challenged to design our robot to do this year.

“Last year’s kickoff, the first one I ever attended, was pretty interesting. A lot of people attended, and what they really do there is introduce people to the game, newbies and veterans alike, and what they essentially do is get everybody comfortable and reveal [the game],” said Vincent Germaine, a sophomore on the TC Titans robotics team.

At this year’s kickoff, hosted by the Boyne City Blaze from Boyne City High School, the home team held brief breakout room sessions on different topics such as social media, programming, strategy and more. After the breakout sessions, robotics teams from all over northern Michigan, including the TC Titans, gathered to watch this year’s challenge be revealed live.

“This year’s challenge is to have a foam ring that you have to shoot into a speaker and then you can also shoot that foam ring into a slot in a wall. Then, at the end of the game [the robot] has to hang from a chain and put another ring into a push door,” Team Safety Captain Reese Hartman said. 

Our team is very committed and holds practice four to six times a week during build season, including an all-day practice on Saturdays. Last year our hard work paid off, and we made it all the way to the World Championship competition in Houston, Texas. 

“Last year we did absolutely phenomenal, as a team and in general. It’s the first time since 2018 that we went to Worlds. As a team we performed really well both inside and outside the ring. Hopefully this year we’re going to do really well again and come back hitting even harder,” Germaine said.

Students in robotics gain more than just technical skills. There are positions for students interested in social media, marketing, photography and more. Many students form long lasting friendships and end up pursuing engineering in college. 

“I’ve always been really interested in STEM and [robotics] just seemed like something fun. I’ve made a ton of really, really great friends. Also, I think it’s added a huge part to college applications,” Hartman said.

In the weeks following kickoff, we have been prototyping parts and an overall design for their robot. The annual Traverse City competition will be held in the WSH gym this year, so the team also has a large amount of preparation in front of them in time for the event. Despite the work, our team remains enthusiastic and committed to the task and to one another. 

“Robotics in general for me was just something new to try. STEM related stuff, I’ve never done before, and I just really wanted to see what it’s like being part of the community and hands on work,” Germaine said. 

This year’s game has many new aspects and elements, yet at the same time many challenges are inspired from past games. This year’s kickoff and coinciding reveal had many up in arms at this revelation for many reasons.

“I like and also don’t like that most of the robots are going to be the same as there are very few ways to play the game. Many of the robots will end up being similar, so it’s going to come down to who does it better,” said junior, Team Co-Captain, programmer and CAD Lead, Jackson Hochstetler.

Competing, playing and participating in robotics provides our team members with many opportunities and qualities that other classes and extracurriculars cannot provide students, benefiting us long-term.

“I joined robotics because I’ve always wanted to do something with robotics and something that allows me to build as I never got that from any other classes,” Hochstetler said.