2022 Offseason

Girl Power

 One of the off-season competitions we participated in this year was Girl Power, hosted by the Fire Birds team 433.  It was a great opportunity for all of the girls on our team to get more driving practice! It was also our new members’ first exposure to a robotics competition in general. After a few matches, we were doing really well. I was personally really excited to be a part of the drive team after working as part of the pit team last season. Our team was on the winning alliance with Grace S. and myself as our driver and operator. We got to take this experience and energy to Ramp Riot and HAVOC too! 



- Isabella ​'25

 Over the summer we visited the Mater Dei Summer  Camp. Our team showcased our FLL and FRC robots with over 90 kids in attendance. Not only did we demonstrate our different programs, but we let the kids test out the robots too. They were able to set up and run programs with the FLL robot, as well as use the controls to operate the FRC robot, with the help of Team 272 members. Overall, the kids had the opportunity to learn about our robotics program, ask questions, and get a fun hands-on experience!

​- Tara '23

Mater Dei Summer  Camp ​

LC Open House

 'This November our team showcased our FRC robot at the Lansdale Catholic High School Open House. We had over 100 prospective LC students come through with their families to watch a short demo! We talked about our program and gave the kids the opportunity to see our robot up close. We demonstrated and explained different functions of our robot, such as movement and ball shooting. After seeing the robot in action, they had the chance to ask questions. All of the people that came through to see our robot were able to learn about how much fun FRC can be and how anyone can participate to help with the different aspects of the team.

- ​Shannon '25

This past November we held our annual Tune Up with 31 FLL teams in attendance. We had 28 FLL Challenge teams and 2 FLL Explorer teams. This event allows FLL teams to experience what a competition would look like. This is very beneficial for all teams, especially new teams, to get an idea of what to expect before their actual competitions, since they would be able to go back and make any changes that they think would help them. Teams are judged in their robot and coding aspects, as well as on their innovation projects. Feedback is provided to these teams to help improve their presentations before their competitions. Tune Up is always a fun event for our team to host, since many Team 272 members attended the event when they were on FLL teams themselves!

- Grace '23

Tune Up ​

LC Family Fun Fest ​

This past August, we had the opportunity to demonstrate our robot at the LC Family Fun Fest, which was an end of summer and back to school event held at Lansdale Catholic. Many families were there with children of all ages, and we were able to showcase the turret and shooter of our robot. We had members of the LC Community operate the robot, catch cargo, and ask questions about the program. Younger children loved trying to catch the cargo, as well as watching the robot pick it back up with the intake. We had a great time at the event, and it was exciting to show off our robot before the start of the school year.

- ​Grace '23

 This year we were able to return to doing Boot Camp in person. The team went down to the Comcast Center for the day and participated in various seminars regarding many robotics topics. Some topics covered included talks on machine learning, swerve drive, and CAD along with more team-oriented sessions that touched on member engagement and sustainability. All in all, it was an extremely educational day and a great experience for all the members of the team. We are very grateful to Comcast for hosting this event and we always enjoy partnering with our sponsors.
- ​Ryan '24

Comcast Boot Camp

One of our major off-season events was Havoc. Havoc is a competition hosted by Hatboro Horsham High School that teams from our region are invited to participate in. We finished the competition in a top 10 spot, and were also able to go a few rounds into the alliance matches. This competition allowed the drive team, which includes myself, to get practice on the field before our season starts. It also allowed us to cycle in some members that weren’t familiar with driving the robot and get them some experience. Overall everyone had a great time at the event and it gave new members competition experience.

- ​Ryan '24

Havoc

MMR Summer Festival

In June, during the Mary Mother of the Redeemer (MMR) Summer Festival, we were able to demonstrate our robot from the Rapid React season. During the event, we showcased how our  robot was able to move and control its shooter. Community members of all ages were able to catch balls launched from the robot and were given team wristbands as well as printed information about our programs. Balls were shot at a low speed and range, and team members assisted in the return and catching of the balls. Team 272 had a great time showing off all that we had accomplished the prior year, answering questions from visitors, and teaching people more about the FIRST programs as a whole.       

​- Connor '23

The St. Stans Summer Festival was such an enjoyable demo for the team! We had our assigned spot where we could demonstrate our robot for the day and countless people from the community came up to see us. We let them interact with the robot by driving and catching the cargo. We gave out our team wristbands as a thank-you to everyone that was willing to check out our robot. The St. Stans festival really gives an idea to people in our community what we do as a team. We always have a great time demonstrating our robot at the St. Stans Summer Festival!.

- ​Ella `26

St. Stans Festival

SCTE

On September 20th, we were graciously invited by Comcast, one of our long-time sponsors, to attend the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. We, along with other teams in our area, were given the opportunity to demonstrate our robot design and compete in mock matches to give the attendees a glimpse of what we do at competitions. We also had the chance to visit the various booths around the convention center and speak to the exhibitors. Our team is extremely grateful to our Comcast sponsor for inviting us to this wonderful and educational event.

- Grace S `25

At the end of the 2021 school year, I applied to the Comcast FIRST Robotics Internship, an internship that Comcast offered to members of teams that they sponsor. There were around 300 applicants, and I was one of ten to be selected. The other interns and I were given a tour of the Comcast buildings in Philadelphia, as well as a data facility and a field building. For the actual job, I was given the assignment of revamping the floor plans for different buildings, I was given a list of buildings by priority to update the plans for. The work was done with AutoCAD and Visio, both used as 2D CAD software. After 6 weeks, the internship concluded and there was a lunch meeting where every intern did a presentation on what they had accomplished during the time they were there. This was an amazing opportunity and I greatly appreciate this valuable experience.

- ​Jacob `23

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Comcast Internship

Ramp Riot

Ramp Riot was an off-season competition that our team went to in November. This was hosted by Miss Daisy Team 341. There were thirty-one teams in this competition, and we were glad most of our team was able to attend! Our main role in our alliances was to shoot as many cargo into the hubs as possible in the two minutes and 30 second time frame. Also at the end of the game we tried to get our robot to climb if it was possible. Our robot performed well against the other teams in the competition, and we ended up being third overall out of all of the teams after the qualifying rounds. The whole team all got to try out different roles including the driver, the drive coach, the operator, and the human player. Some people got to experience roles that they never were before to start learning the different positions. Overall the team put up a great performance at Ramp Riot and it was an awesome experience for us tto be able to be a part of.

- Patrick `23

At the start of the summer, our team hosted a camp that teaches kids in grade school about FIRST and the FLL program. We run this camp twice, each one being a week long, at Lansdale Catholic. The campers spent time during the day playing games based around working as a team that taught them how to work together. We also showed them multiple videos that teach important life lessons, and videos that show off different aspects of FIRST competitions. After the games, they moved to work on their FLL robot that played on the game mat from the previous Superpowered season. They worked as a team to program, build their robot, and decide what strategies they wanted to use to accomplish their missions. They were not timed or penalized, as they only have a week to program and build. At the end of the week, the parents came in and saw the campers run their robot on the field to show how much they got done in such a little amount of time. The summer camp is a great way of introducing kids into FIRST and gives them the opportunity to learn about robotics as well.

- Connor `23

FLL Summer Camp

New Sponsor

In December we were thrilled that our new sponsor Airline Hydraulics Corporation to our workshop to show us some of their products in action. Mr Todd Huber showed the team how their robotic arm worked and let the kids program it to pick up candy ! It was great for the team to have hands on experience We loved being able to interact with our new sponsor and we are looking forward to working with them this season.