January Newsletter

The Gaelhawks are thrilled to be back for another exciting year and in our NEW workspace for the 2025 Reefscape season! It was a very busy offseason prepping our new space and attending multiple outreach events throughout our community.

After watching the Reefscape game animation during our kickoff meeting, we divided into groups to thoroughly explore this year’s game and gain a solid understanding of the rules. Once our research was complete, we reconvened as a team to share our findings. The day after kickoff, we hit the ground running, diving into preparations for our first load-in day of the season.

Build has successfully assembled the swerve modules along with two spares. The team has also developed a prototype algae shooter that can intake and launch the game piece. Additionally, they are continuing work on the climber prototype and conceptualizing the robot’s scoring mechanisms for algae and coral through paper sketches and CAD models. Manufacturing preparations are also underway with the setup of a spoil board for the router.

Field Build worked really hard the last few weeks with the Barge, Processor, Coral Station and Reef being fully complete. It has been instrumental in helping the team visualize different match scenarios.

Programming is working on refining the swerve drive code and tackling the necessary calculations for this year’s game. They are ensuring all team members are set up and familiar with the code while continuing to optimize functionality for competition. They are also working on getting our swerve base to track an AprilTag.

Digital Marketing has completed the first of two build season videos while also maintaining the team’s social media presence, updating the website, and planning the team’s FIRST Impact Award video. Team shirts have been designed and will soon be produced.

Awards has completed and submitted the FIRST Impact Award essay and is now preparing for the presentation. They are currently working on the Dean’s List and Woodie Flowers Award. Congratulations to Leah Kovacs and Krishiv Patel who have been nominated as Team 230’s Dean’s List recipients and Mrs. Sala who has been nominated as the Team 230 Woodie Flowers recipient.

Scouting is finalizing the Tableau form and preparing to upload match data for analysis. To ensure accuracy, they are running test simulations with sample data and working on data visualization within the system. Team is also preparing to scout Week Zero events to work out any issues.

Outreach just wrapped up the last of their robot assemblies at all five Shelton Elementary Schools along with Hour of Code sessions at Mohegan and Sunnyside. The younger students have been super excited to see our team and interact with our robot.

That’s all for now, but stay tuned for our next newsletter to learn about our further progress! And if you want to see us in action, come see us at Waterbury for our first competition on the weekend of March 8th-9th.