Our program has been carefully designed to meet the needs of all students with an interest in the subject, including a summer workshop for middle school students, introductory and intermediate academic courses for Choate Rosemary Hall students, a Sunday Team, and an Advanced Robotics Concentration (ARC) signature program.
Choate Robotics is dedicated to promoting inclusivity in all aspects of our program. We pride ourselves on welcoming all students, regardless of their student’s race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, nationality, or any other identifier.
Mission
The program was founded with the goal of educating inquisitive, motivated, and committed students in STEM. The program uses robotics to teach students important life skills such as self-confidence, innovation, and teamwork.
Strategy
The program has been carefully designed to meet the needs of all students with an interest in the subject, including introductory and intermediate academic courses, a Sunday Team, and an Advanced Robotics Concentration (ARC) signature program.
Vision
The program aims to inspire young minds to think creatively in the arts and sciences of engineering, programming, and design. By doing so, the curriculum teaches students to grow into an industry of the future.
Advanced Robotics Concentration
A three-term honors program which provides interested and motivated students the opportunity to explore robotics at the advanced level. The sequence of three courses includes the design and fabrication of mechanical, electrical, and control systems as well as in-depth autonomous programming including use of sensors, management systems, and virtual mapping. The heart of the program is the intensive and collaborative process of preparing for and competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition, a premier international robotics competition. Team-building, project management, and reflection are integrated throughout the program.
FALL
Students learn to design mechanical, electrical, and programmable systems. Programmable micro-controllers provide a flexible environment that can be applied to many of the class projects. Important skills are practiced in this class include: soldering, CAD design, wiring, electrical prototyping with a breadboard, and programming with appropriate languages.
WINTER
Once the FRC game is revealed in early January, the intesive build period begins. Students strategize how to approach the game and rapidly begin to prototype mechanisms for specific tasks. Testing and refining their designs, as well as adding and debugging appropriate programming, are continuously done until the end of the build period.
SPRING
Students learn to design and use autonomatic control and management systems to analyze and interpret feedback. Use of various sensors and encoders allow for programmed responses to the data. At the same time, students are expected to compete at FRC events in hopes of qualifying for and attending championship level events.
Our History
The Choate Robotics program was founded in 2009. Our interscholastic Robotics Team was established in the fall of 2013 and competed in the VEX Robotics Competition as Team 6106 from 2013 to 2018. During this period the team grew from seven students building one robot to over fifty students fielding nine robots. The team’s robots qualified for and competed in the Southern New England Championship four times (with a total of 17 robots qualified) and at the VEX World Championship three times (4 robots total).
In 2018, the school established the Advanced Robotics Concentration and the team began to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition.