NORTH READING — The North Reading Robotics organization finished the 2024-25 competition season boasting qualifier wins and multiple state championship entries.
The organization, which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, has grown from four teams two years ago to 10 teams this season across K-12 and participates in all of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics programs (www.firstinspires.org).
Showcase and Open House Sunday
All robotics teams will showcase their robots at the North Reading Robotics Showcase and Open House to be held in the Activity Room of the Flint Memorial Library on Sunday, March 30 from 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon.
The teams are comprised of students and mentors from North Reading as well as students from schools and home-schoolers from surrounding towns. There were five teams of returning veterans – the high school team Nano Hornets #16704, mentored by Andrew Stetson and Karen Moberg – all seniors taking part in their final FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) season as well as four teams that moved up in their categories.
The middle school team, RoboHornets #26576, mentored by Eleanor Richard (Director, North Reading Youth Services) and high school senior and FTC veteran, Sucheta Srikanth (Harvard ’29), moved up from FLL to FIRST Tech Challenge and competed in their first ever FTC challenge, placing in the top 15.
The Abominable Brickslayers #60805 elementary FLL Challenge team, mentored by Kelvin Yeow and June Tay and in their second year of the program, won the Innovation Project Award at the Newton qualifier, securing a spot to compete in the 2025 state championship.
Also moving up from FLL explore to FLL Challenge this past season with a strong showing were SigmaBots #62291, mentored by Chris Kowaleski and Adnan Khalid, and Guardians of the LEGOcity #66088, mentored by Winnie Eisenhaure and Edana Martin.
Five new teams were added this year in the FLL Challenge and Explore categories. A new FLL Challenge team, North Reading SCUBA Squad #59499, mentored by Adam Stahl and Michelle White, qualified for the state championship in their first ever season.
Four FLL Explore teams for K-3 – Incredibricks #25158 mentored by Alex Firshein and Kinjal Patel; Lego Legends #31801 mentored by Arthur and Melissa Ledoux; North Reading Hackers #31802 mentored by Jason Bessuille and Vanesa Lombardo; and the youngest, Ocean Lego #31800 mentored by Caroline Lynch, got their robotic feet wet with FLL Explore this year.
Congratulations to all the teams and fond farewell to our graduating seniors each of whom will get their FIRST graduation cords and pins – Eva Hanegraaff, Hailey LaBarge, Ellie Moberg, Mahir Mughdo, Sucheta Srikanth, Addison Stetson and Anya Taneja.
The FIRST programs and challenges start at the younger ages with FLL Explore, which then elevates to Lego League Challenge competition in late elementary and middle schools. The FIRST Tech Challenge is the next evolution and exposes high school kids to hands-on multi-disciplinary skills involving critical thinking – Machining, Tooling, Mechanical/CAD design, Engineering, Electronics circuit assembly and computer programming.
North Reading Robotics was originally founded in 2017 at the initiative of North Reading High School students Cooper Mann (WPI ’25) and Shivani Srikanth (Harvard ’26) with a single team mentored by former board member, Michael Mann. The goal of North Reading Robotics (www.northreadingrobotics.com) is to promote and encourage hands-on STEM among the children of North Reading. North Reading Robotics is grateful to its long-time community supporters: Rebecca Mikulski of Amazon Robotics, John Pagluica of N-able, Evan Russell of the Russell Realty group, John Lucci of the Lucci Realty Trust, and Sheela Sethuraman of CueThink, Inc., as well as CollegeCrafter and Teradyne for their sponsorship of its programs.
“These sponsorships have allowed us to keep membership costs affordable at just $75-$125 per student for the entire year while providing all the robotics kits, parts and competition registration at no additional charge to the participants,” commented Board Member Ayikudy Srikanth. “We are also grateful to Pastor Rachel Meredith Fisher and Aldersgate United Methodist Church for providing space for some of our teams and to Superintendent Patrick Daly, Dr. Daniel Downs, Director of Digital Learning, and Ms. Michelle Caulfield, STEM coordinator, for continuing to promote our programs within the schools.”
North Reading Robotics currently has four board members – Winnie Eisenhaure, Arthur Ledoux, Ayikudy Srikanth and Kelvin Yeow, all North Reading residents. Those who are interested in learning more, starting a new team or making donations of time, tools or financial assistance to North Reading Robotics, may contact them via email at board@northreadingrobotics.com or via Facebook message at (https://www.facebook.com/northreadingrobotics).