Robotics at Quad Prep: A Standout Inaugural Season

“We all started out as beginners,” Daniel (Class of ’26) says. 

Yet, in its inaugural season, Quad Prep’s R.A.D. Robotics team is already an award-winning group. (Yes, R.A.D. is an acronym, and no, they will not tell you what it stands for.)

“It was very exciting to learn a new process and medium. I was there to guide the team and help in that capacity, but they took control of most of it, which is really amazing,” says Robotics/Design Thinking Coordinator and Competition Lead and Makerspace Teacher Max Garett.

As part of the FIRST® Tech Challenge league, students work together to design and build robots that compete in a game against other school teams. Designing a robot requires high-level STEM skills and knowledge. Drawing on previous coding, engineering, or other design experience was essential. However, for most of the team members—Max included!—this season marked their first introduction to the world of robotics.

For many students, a passion for engineering drew them to the robotics team, coupled with a desire to explore their interests in a group setting.

For James (Class of ’29), joining the robotics team was the perfect place to build off his interest in engineering both in and outside of the classroom. “I have been able to put together what I have been working on and put my interests into a collaborative effort alongside peers who are interested in similar topics,” he says.

Throughout the season, students gained more than just specialized robotics knowledge. In addition, they honed their ability to collaborate and work toward a common goal. Navigating a team environment for the first time, many students began to learn and grow as a collective. 

“Being on a team has been really fun collaborating with others, sharing ideas, reconciling, and cooperating. Joining this team has really helped me become more of a team player and better problem solver in general, and I’ll be forever grateful for this experience,” says Aidan (Class of ’27). 

As part of the competition model, in addition to having their robots compete in designated challenges, team members must respond to questions from judges and participate in interviews about their building process. 

“There's a lot of, not only building and making, which they're very talented at, but also interviewing, talking eloquently about the design process, engineering process, how we did this, what went wrong,” Max says.

For many twice-exceptional students, interviewing and speaking publicly can be intimidating. In the end, hard work and practice paid off for R.A.D. Robotics.

Out of over 300 teams in five boroughs, R.A.D. Robotics finished in 59th place —the only rookie team to place in the top 100—and was the recipient of the Design Award. Awarded to only one team, the Design Award recognizes outstanding robotic design and engineering process. 

In the end, R.A.D. Robotics created more than just a group of skilled engineers. This experience helped lay the foundation for a team of compassionate, collaborative robot-building creatives.

“In doing robotics, I have found joy in being a team player. I like being able to help problem solve and have people that can help me problem solve,” Daniel says. “We worked together to create this robot that I don’t think any one of us could have made on our own, and that’s really, really cool.”

The team is already looking forward to another season of collaboration and competition!