The AFS Upper School Robotics Team, Roobotics, made history this summer, earning its first-ever competition victory at RoboJAWN, an offseason FIRST Robotics Competition event hosted by the RoboLancers and SCH Robotics.

Competing alongside alliance partners Team 316, the Lunatecs, and Team 6328, Mechanical Advantage, Roobotics navigated a full day of competition, collaboration and on-the-fly engineering to emerge as event champions.

For team members, returning to the FIRST Robotics Competition community brought a warm welcome from teams across the event, with students from nearly every participating program stopping by the AFS pit to reconnect and offer encouragement.

That spirit of collaboration became especially important before the finals, when Roobotics needed to replace its robot’s power system and two motors in roughly 45 minutes. With help from alliance captain Team 316, AFS students were able to complete the repairs and get the robot back into competition.

“This moment of communal problem solving really made me feel the love of the FRC community,” reflected Will Palladino '27. “Everyone is so willing to help.”

The competition also gave the team opportunities to build relationships that could extend beyond a single event. Members of Team 316 invited Roobotics to collaborate on future projects, while AFS students strengthened their own bonds through the shared experience of building, troubleshooting and competing together.

The summer victory comes as Roobotics prepares for an exciting new chapter. This school year, the team will compete in FIRST Robotics Competition under the leadership of new coach Jillian Ma and continued mentorship under Andrew Sage '17. FIRST challenges students to design, build and program industrial-size robots while developing skills in engineering, teamwork, problem solving and leadership.

With its first competition win now in the books—and a renewed connection to the broader FIRST community—Roobotics enters the new season ready to build on a historic summer.