MONROE, CT — Two high and two middle school teams from the Masuk Robotics program will compete in the 2025 VEX Robotics World Championships at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas on May 6-14.
In this year’s game, the object is for a team’s robot to place their color rings on stakes on the playing field. Stakes in the corners are worth two points and a team can also take points away from their opponent by removing their rings.
Each match begins with a 15 second bonus period, when teams’ robots can follow a preprogrammed path to score as many most points as they can, leading to a small bonus being added to their overall score.
Monroe’s teams include 8878E and 8878C, made up of Jockey Hollow Middle School and STEM Academy students, and Masuk High School students on teams 4478B and 4478U. For most students, this is their first time competing at worlds.
Alison Merriman, a senior, is a driver on Team 4478U.
“We’ve looked at numerous designs from our sister teams at Masuk and at past events on YouTube for inspiration, and to see what we excelled in and what to improve on next,” Merriman said of how she and her teammates are preparing for world competition.
Team U also includes seniors Kayla Roy, a project manager, who is also on the drive team; Grace Lein, a builder on the drive team; and Kylie Hurme, a notebooker/CAD designer.
Carmen Zhao, a junior, is a programmer, and sophomores include Lam Pham, a programmer, and Sanjana Pamulapati, a notebooker.
“I want to thank Masuk Robotics for all the support. We’re so excited,” Merriman said. “Mr. McDonough, he’s a great coach.”
William McDonough heads the Masuk Robotics program with help from assistant coaches Rich Infante, Sean Neely, Geoffrey Giordano and Mari O’Rourke.
“I think we’re pretty excited,” Pamulapati said of worlds. “We’re looking forward to seeing other teams that we competed against at past events.”
“It’s nice to see other advanced teams — how different they are from everyone,” Zhao added.
Robotics teams have been meeting afterschool to fine tune their robots leading up to the world championships.
A Blizzard warning
Team 4478B’s nickname is the Blizzard. Tyler Matthews, a junior with six years in robotics, said he and his teammates are happy with the coding and automation of their robot, and are working to improve their driving skills as much as possible before their big trip to Texas.
Matthews, who is the main builder, is joined by junior Chase Gakos, who is the main project manager, documenting the Blizzard’s design process, recording it in a notebook for his team’s reference.
The rest of the team’s roster consists of juniors Michael O’Rourke (driver), and Aryan Sharma (coding/automation), senior Evan Boyle, (coding/backend of the coding and driving functions, odometry and color sensors), and Rahul Srinivasan, the main scout in charge of talking to other teams.
“It’s a great opportunity to learn new stuff and meet new people,” Matthews said of participating in world competition. “It’s going to be an interesting event.”
Though the VEX Robotics World Championships will feature teams from around the globe, this is not the Blizzard’s first taste of international competition this season.
Gakos said they faced two teams from South Africa during a tournament held in Worcester, Mass., last December.
“It’s just a very exciting opportunity for us to have a chance in worlds,” he said. “We’ve been working on our robot since June and it’s fun to see all of our work come to life and be able to compete with the best teams in the world.”
“It’s also a great opportunity to learn new things,” Matthews said, adding how robotics has allowed them to use CAD (computer aided design) software and laser engravers that are used to make precise cuts to parts for a robot.
The Earwig Society
Team 8878E’s nickname is The Earwig Society. Ishan Vijay, a driver and bot builder, worked with his teammates to prepare their robot last week.
“It’s coming together and building a robot and competing at competitions,” Vijay said of what he loves most about robotics. “You can explore so many possibilities with so many robot designs. It’s a nice experience, because you can see how the high school teams build their bot.”
The rest of the team of eighth graders includes Chris Cerrato (second driver), Viha Pham (programmer/notebooker), Ava Heffelfinger (team manager/main notebooker) and Shanaya Modi (notebooks/builder).
Cerrato said his young team has learned a lot from working with high school robotics students in Masuk’s program. “We can see what they are doing,” he said. “It’s the best of both worlds to see what we can do. This is my first time going to worlds.”
“It’s my first time going too,” Vijay said. “We’re very excited about it to see how others in the world do robots and we are making changes to our robot for the competition.”
Vijay said his team’s robot is well-designed, so they are trying to improve upon the programming and coding.
Of participating in the world championships, Heffelfinger said, “I think it’s an amazing experience that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”
Caution Plutonium
Team 8878C’s nickname is Caution Plutonium. Its roster includes eighth graders Dylan Matthews (main builder and driver), Liam Siana (project manager and notebooker), Braeden Connolly (programmer), Josh Scarano (assistant notebooker/project manager), and Steven Ingram (secondary builder/backup driver).
“We decided not to rebuild our robot,” Matthews said. “We tried to improve it with lighter materials.”
This includes Plexiglass in some places that used to have metal and ball bearings for less friction, allowing their robot to run smoother.
“Our goal is to win our division,” Matthews said of the world competition in Dallas.
“At least win a couple,” Siana said of the matches.
“Get to eliminations,” Matthews added.
Siana said he looks forward to seeing players from other countries. “It’s going to be cool, because teams will be speaking other languages and we’ll be in this huge arena,” he said of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “Going to the worlds is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
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