Tucked away in the old Folkway building in Peterborough, members of the Monadnock 4-H Robotics Club Team Inconceivable are hard at work building their robot for the 2026 competition season.
Jacob Wyatt, the senior member of the team, says every year brings a different challenge.
“This year’s robot has to be able to launch six-inch foam balls and turn in any direction. We have to maximize space to hold as many balls as we can. We’re trying to build a really efficient turret and shooter so we can load really fast while moving around in any direction,” Wyatt said. “The robot also has to be able to climb this year.”
The team has constructed a wooden climbing rack to practice that portion of the competition, but the main focus is on storing and shooting the yellow foam balls, known as “fuel.”
“It’s kind of a strategic decision we made to focus on throwing the balls through the hoops rather than the climbing. We’ll try to climb to the first level and get those points,” Wyatt said.
The team will compete at Bedford High School on March 14 and 15 and at the University of Vermont on April 3 and 4. They hope to qualify for the New England District Championships at the Big E in West Springfield, Mass., April 16 through 18.
Each January, FIRST Robotics Club teams receive the rules for the year’s competition specifying what tasks the robot must complete, along with its dimensions and weight. Once they have the assignment, team members brainstorm the design and begin to program it into CAD (computer-aided design) to start creating the parts.
James Bean, who is new to the team this year, said the process of creating the robot from start to finish is “really cool.”
“You do the CAD, and then you make the parts, and then you put it together, kind of like a Lego set. At the start of it, there was nothing , and then really quickly we built it up and had almost all the pieces of our robot,” he said. “It’s really cool how it all comes together.”
Bean said he really enjoys being on the team.
“I’ve always loved tinkering with robots, but I’ve never actually been on a robotics team before, and it’s really fun,” he said. “I really like making the prototypes. We’ve done a lot of those.”
Alexander Brand, who is also new to the team this year, said being on the FRC team is a big jump from the middle school team.
“This is definitely harder than the team I was on before, because on the younger team, you don’t have to make all the parts because they are all Lego pieces and they give you everything,” he said.
The team uses a CNC mill, 3-D printers, and a laser cutter to make parts for the robots, as well as creating parts by hand. Team sponsors, parents, and local industries have donated manufacturing equipment to the team over the years, and one of the team’s sponsors, Polymaker, donates polyfiber nylon for the 3-D printers.
Andres Wood, who has coached the team since 2009 with his wife, Brighid, supervises the machining and metal cutting.
“We used to buy more pre-built parts because we didn’t have the capability to make them, but now we have the capability,” Andres Wood said.
“We make what we need, and we get rid of what we don’t need,” Wyatt said. “Since we haven’t had to buy much pre-built stuff, we could focus on getting higher quality electronics and other things we can’t build.”
The Woods are assisted by various team alumni who come back and help when they can, including robotics champion Kade Fletcher, who is now a freshman at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Wyatt says despite all the mentoring, the design and construction of each robot is “100% done by the students.”
“We have a really great relationship with our mentors who just try to make it possible for us to succeed. They kind of help us to stay on track, but it’s the kids making all decisions,” Wyatt said.
Andres Wood says the students take the lead every step of the way.
“Once we get the rules for the year, it’s up to the team to solve the problems and figure it out,” he said. “We’re mostly here for safety, and maybe some sanity.”
This year’s robot does not have a name yet. Team members say the robots usually “name themselves,” often in keeping with the team’s longstanding “Princess Bride” theme.
“One year, it was Miracle Max, because it was a miracle that we won that event,” Wyatt said.
The theme of this year’s competition is “Rebuilt,” and teams are encouraged to reuse parts and materials from previous robots. In the past, Team Inconceivable has won awards for sustainability, thanks to its commitment to reusing as many parts from previous robots as possible.
“We reuse everything,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt said this year’s weight limit presented a challenge, given that the robot is powered by 4 Kraken motors, which will enable it to climb at a rate of 20 feet per second.
“The robot already weighs 113 pounds, and the limit is 115, so that is something we have to figure out,” Wyatt said. “The battery is not included in the weight. It’s really, really heavy, and it’s only enough for one competition.”
Other team members include Kieran Galbraith, Tre Patterson, and Christian and Isaac Witham. Wyatt says he has seen the team grow and progress since he joined.
“We’ve definitely expanded in capabilities,” he said. “Every year, we’ve just been building on what we can. We’ve been doing coding, the CAD, the programming.”
Unlike in some competitive robotics leagues, FIRST Robotics encourages teams to share their progress from the moment they receive the year’s instructions through the national competition.
“It’s very collaborative; other teams post videos and show their progress, and we can see what they’re doing. Everyone shares their ideas,” Wyatt said.
Brighid Wood says that robotics creates a lifelong bond.
“My own kids went through the program, and when they got to college, they saw kids they had competed with throughout the years, and they were like, hey, I know you! It’s a real bond to have this passion,” she said. “It’s something that carries through your whole life.”
Team Inconceivable is looking for a new practice space, as its lease with the former Folkway building will end in May.
Team Inconceivable is open to all middle and high-school-age students who are interested in robotics. For information, go to www.team1729.org.