Mechanical
Drivetrains, intakes, manipulators. The students with aluminium chips in their hoodies.
- Mill
- Lathe
- 3D print
- Sheet metal
Twenty-five students.
One shop. One deadline.
There is no tryout and no prerequisite. Show up at the shop, pick a subteam, and by February you will have built something that moves.
§ 01 — Why we do it
The robot is the excuse. The engineers are the point.
Newtown High School sits in Elmhurst, one of the most linguistically diverse neighbourhoods on earth. Our roster reflects it exactly.
Each January FIRST releases the season's game. Six weeks later a 120-pound robot has to pass inspection. In between, students learn mechanical design, electrical systems, software and project management the only way that really works — with something real on the line and a clock running.
Most of them arrive knowing nothing. That is the intended starting point. The seniors running our mill were freshmen who could not read a caliper three years ago.
§ 02 — Structure
Five subteams. One robot.
Pick one in October. Nobody stays boxed in — half the team ends up cross-trained by January anyway.
Electrical
Battery to motor controller to RoboRIO and back. If it has a wire on it, it ends up here.
- CAN bus
- PDH
- Harness
- Sensors
Programming
Autonomous routines, drive-team telemetry, and vision when the game calls for it.
- Java
- WPILib
- Auto
- Vision
Design / CAD
Concept sketch to fully-toleranced assembly. The bridge between strategy and the machine shop.
- Fusion
- Inventor
- Onshape
- DFM
Business & Outreach
Sponsors, fundraising, the team binder, and demos we bring into schools across Queens.
- Sponsors
- Comms
- Outreach
- Budget
Mentors
Faculty plus working engineers and alumni who show up after the bell to teach milling and design review.
- NHS faculty
- Engineers
- Alumni
§ 03 — Build season
Kickoff crate to competition floor in about 45 days.
The same six weeks every team on earth gets. Scroll the rail sideways.
Read the rules. Argue strategy.
Whole team in one room with whiteboards, the kit-of-parts and pizza. We leave with a strategy and three rough concepts.
Wood, zip-ties, bad ideas.
Mechanisms in plywood and extrusion. The two that survive become real subsystems; the rest teach us something.
Design the whole machine.
Prototypes become a full assembly — frame, gearboxes, intake and wiring laid out on one model before a chip is cut.
CNC, mill, print, repeat.
Parts come off the mill and the printers. Programming starts on a chassis-only practice base.
Wire it. Code it. Break it.
Subsystems mounted, electronics flashed, autonomous run over and over against a taped field until it stops surprising us.
Load the truck.
Final tuning, driver practice, binder finished — then an early bus to the Armory.
§ 04 — Roster
Who runs what.
- Noirhit GhoshTeam captain
- Calvin JiangMechanical lead
- Tenzing BhutiaElectrical lead
- Kelly ZhangProgramming lead
- Joyce BiswasDesign / CAD lead
- AhnafBusiness lead
- Maria De La CruzHead mentor
[ Open door ]
You do not need to know anything. You need to show up.