Bionic Beef, Team 97 is CRLS’s FIRST robotics team. Every year the team prepares for the annual First Robotics Competition in which near human size robots compete in some form of a game. The competition details are released the first week of January and teams have exactly six weeks to build the robot until when it must be sealed off until the local competition.

At this year’s competition, robots played two minute rounds of 3 vs. 3 basketball matches. The CRLS club meets weekly during the preseason beginning in October, and daily during the robotics build season beginning in January. The team is composed of three subteams; a mechanical team, a software team, and a finance team. The subteams are composed of a diverse group of twenty students from all grades. The team also has support from the team coach, Conrad Hauck, and many mentors from a local robotics company, Vecna Robotics.

Although the FIRST robotics season is over for this year, the team continues to work on independent projects throughout the year to prepare for next year’s competition. The team is very grateful for its sponsors who allow this program to continue: Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Vecna Robotics, Draper Laboratory, and Friends of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. More information about the FIRST robotics program can be found by clicking here.