The Nut Jobs, Broadalbin-Perth High School’s FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics Team, is digging into preparations for its first competition of the year. It will face off against 20 other teams from throughout the Capital Region at The Albany Academies on Saturday, January 14.
This year, FTC teams are taking on a challenge called “velocity vortex” which tasks the team members to design, build, and program a robot that can overcome the obstacles put before it. The Nut Jobs are comprised of Allyson Becker, Brooke McClarren, Tyler Abrams, Devin Becker, Ryan Gardner, Ricky Kaufman, Kori Mott, and Elijah Ryder, and are coached by Jill and Rob Becker.
The team has weekly design meetings and also dedicates time to educating the community about FTC. Team members participate in RoboReaders, a program where they read to young students at The Learning Community. While doing outreach over the summer at the Saratoga County Fair, they had the opportunity to discuss FTC and robotics with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
The Nut Jobs have been meeting since September and are hoping to compete through the month of April, when the FTC World Championships are held.