The vibe at the First Robotics Competition at Rockland Community College was focused, serious, and spirited.
Teams with robotics-inspired names hailed from across New York and as far away as London, England. They included: Kingsmen Robotics from Kings Park New York, StuyPulse from Styuvestant in New York City, RoboTigers from Queens, and The Griffins from London, England. Representing Brewster: CyBearBots.
The First Robotics 2025 challenge is called “Reefscape” and it’s an underwater scenario in which teams create alliances and earn points by using their robot to harvest algae, place coral on a reef and then return to the barge to ascend to the ocean surface. Each robot ideally has functions for lifting algae (giant bouncy green ball), threading coral (PVC piping) onto the reef (purple metal prongs) and hooking onto and rising up (pulley system) into a barge (plastic bin).
CyBear Bots has had a short but accompanied run at First Robotics. In 2017, during COVID the team ranked 11 in the world. Each year since, they have been in contention.
The team this year is composed of 35 students, many of whom are participating for the first time. To match the reefscape theme, team members are dressed in a Bear-themed scuba outfit with air tanks made from soda bottles, snorkels and masks. The team on the floor during a match includes a Drive Captain, Drivers, and a human player. There are also behind-the-scenes members who include coders and mechanical technicians, a business team responsible for fundraising, social media posting and outreach; and Safety Captains. All of them are interested in computer science and robotics.
“The great thing about this year’s team is how cohesive it is. The members just work together really well,” said teacher Brittany Kozlenko.
There were ups and downs throughout the three-day competition.
“On the first day the Brewster robot #7504 started smoking during a match–a white plume of smoke came out. The control has a button to toggle and it got stuck and caused the motor to spin,” explained Emanuel Galindo.
But they regrouped in “the pit” which is outfitted with tools, wires, and computers–and problem solved to fix the button.
The challenge this year is more of a technical game with a focus on alliances and less smash ups and robot interactions. The team was awarded critical alliance points for its ability to work well with other teams. The team had two consecutive wins during qualification matches. Out of 49 teams, they ended up ranked 24th, moving up 9 spots from last year.
“This competition is getting us ready for Albany at the end of the month,” said junior Kelsey Gragano. “We will work out some kinks, get our automatic function up and running and our climbing feature to get our robot up higher and I think we have a really good shot.”
