Peddie’s Robotics team, FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) Team 5895, took first place at the Hatboro-Horsham (Pa.) Mid-Atlantic District Event in March, the first regional competition of the year, with a new high score of 149. FRC is an international robotics high-school competition, consisting of more than 3,700 teams across 28 countries.

“Hræsvelgr,” the robot the team built and competed at Hatboro-Horsham, will be the same for the second district event in Seneca, N.J. “Teams are always iterating and improving the robot,” said Scott Meredith, Izzo Design Laboratory director and FRC5895 head coach. “Students and mentors have been in the lab over spring break redesigning parts, fabricating new parts and developing new and improved code for the robot.

“The game and strategy evolve over the course of the season like in other sports; the team needs to counter what other teams do with design and gameplay strategy.”

Peddie’s Robotics students work all school year to prepare for competition. They attend two district events, during which they accrue points based on performance and work toward qualifying for the district championship. If all goes well there, they’ll qualify for the World Championship in Houston, taking place this year from April 19-22.

Competition preparation is both challenging and fun.

“I love all the different perspectives that allow our team to creatively problem-solve,” said drive-team member Kefei Wu ’24. “We’re split up into two subteams (engineering and programming), and it’s so amazing to be able to work on the same problem, both mechanically and coding-wise.”

The next district event in Seneca will be held March 24-26.