For Creation of 'Proxima' Robot

The first Robotics Team at Minuteman High School won two awards in a regional competition on Tuesday, May 11, for the creation of its robot, “Proxima,” which is driven by remote control and shoots balls high into the air.

The Minuteman students, known as Team Alpha Centauri, FIRST Robotics Competition: the Rookie Game Changer Award and the Rookie Game Design Award.

FIRST Robotics is an international high school robotics competition with national and regional tournaments around the United States. Students work during a six-week period to build robots capable of tasks such as scoring balls into goals, placing inner tubes onto racks, balancing robots on beams, and more. Minuteman’s inaugural FIRST Robotics Club was established this school year.

The Minuteman students worked both remotely and in-person to design, 3D model, assemble, wire, program, and test their robot. The students collaborated with the Fitch High School in Groton, Connecticut, to put the final touches on the robot.

Pictured from left to right are: Alexis Farrow, grade 9, of Needham; Gabriel Herbertz, grade 12, of Stow; River Araujo, grade 9, of Acton; Caleb Baumritter, grade 9, of Acton; and Tucker Mast, grade 9, of Stow.

The students involved in the FIRST Robotics competition were:

• Markis Galea, grade 12, Engineering major, of Stow
• Gabriel Herbertz, grade 12, Robotics major, of Stow 
• Nicholas Abreu, grade 11, Engineering major, of Lexington
• Haris Ansari, grade 11, Engineering major, of Stow
• Sarah Buchieri, grade 11, Engineering major, of Lancaster
• Maliha Khan, grade 11, Multimedia Engineering major, of Lancaster
• Thomas Maloney, grade 11, Robotics major, of Waltham
• Sreeman Lakshmanan, grade 11, Engineering major, of Acton
• Charlie Perry, grade 11, Engineering major, of Woburn 
• Kevin Bartles, grade 10, Engineering major, of Lexington
• Charlie Bruel, grade 10, Engineering major, of Needham
• Alex Hanson, grade 10 Engineering major, of Reading
• Abraham Kim, grade 10, Engineering major, of Belmont
• Zachary Marshall, grade 10, Engineering major, of Stow
• Riley Mitchell, grade 10, Biotechnology major, of Sudbury
• Alex Qazilbash, grade 10, Engineering major, of Arlington
• Dylan Schrock, grade 10, Engineering major, of Acton 
• River Araujo, grade 9, Engineering major, of Acton
• Teya Barbosa, grade 9, Engineering major, of Dover
• Caleb Baumritter, grade 9, Engineering major, of Acton
• Nichola DiPlacido, grade 9, Environmental Science major, of Arlington
• Calvin Dowds, grade 9, Plumbing major, of Bolton
• Riley Faulds, grade 9, Multimedia Engineering major, of Arlington
• Alexis Farrow, grade 9, Engineering major, of Needham
• Sebastian Krikorian, grade 9, Engineering major, of Arlington
• Sammantha Markowitz, grade 9, Multimedia Engineering major, of Arlington
• Tucker Mast, grade 9, Engineering major, of Stow
• Thomas Veller, Grade 9, Programming and Web Development major, of Arlington

The faculty adviser was Deanna Clark, an engineering teacher.

This news announcement was published Sunday, May 16, 2021. Providing the information is Dan O'Brien, who works for Minuteman.