We received a wonderful thank you and update from The Control Freaks out of Wayland,
"Dear Weston and Wayland Rotary Club,
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 5735, the Control Freaks, is incredibly grateful for Weston and Wayland Rotary Club financial support during our 2024-2025 season. Your generosity directly fueled an exceptionally exciting and productive build season, which culminated in strong performances at two regional competitions, attendance at the New England District Championship, and an exciting run to the finals at the Inaugural MA State Championship!
Beyond the impressive competitive achievements, our members continue to gain invaluable technical and non-technical skills that simply aren't attainable in a traditional classroom setting. Our remarkable progress and these life-changing opportunities for our students are only possible because of your unwavering belief in our mission and your continued commitment.
Thank you for being a vital part of our journey.
Sincerely,
The Control Freaks
FRC Team 5735, Wayland, MA
team site: http://frc5735.com
instagram: @ctrlfreaks5735
facebook: FRC 5735
2024-2025 FRC 5735
Season Summary
Season Summary
In pre-season this year, we welcomed 14 new members to our team through outreach and school events such as the Club Fair, bolstering our ranks with fresh enthusiasm and talent. Our rigorous training program involved seminars on computer-aided design (CAD), safe power tool operation, coding, and more. The main project focused on redesigning our previous year’s robot to simulate the process of build season for our new members.
We had an extensive focus on community outreach this year, participating in demonstrations in many locations, such as the local elementary schools and the town library. In December, we hosted our 3rd STEM fair, where we showcased
our robot as well as displays from fellow STEM clubs: Medical Club, Science Team, Math Team, Rubik’s Cube Club, Genius Bar, and the other FRC Teams. The event was geared toward younger students, and activities including design with LEGO bricks, microscopic exploration, spaghetti structural engineering, and crafts kept them educationally entertained for hours.
our robot as well as displays from fellow STEM clubs: Medical Club, Science Team, Math Team, Rubik’s Cube Club, Genius Bar, and the other FRC Teams. The event was geared toward younger students, and activities including design with LEGO bricks, microscopic exploration, spaghetti structural engineering, and crafts kept them educationally entertained for hours.
Kickoff on January 4th marked the official beginning of build season. The challenge this year, Reefscape presented by Haas, involved the challenge of transporting and scoring two game pieces varying greatly in shape and material. Teams raced to place tube-shaped “Coral” onto a multi-leveled “Reef” while removing “Algae” balls which could then be scored themselves. The match ended with the robots racing to lift themselves off the ground, hanging only from a swinging cage. The gameplay was challenging and exhilarating!
After Kickoff in January, we spent the rest of the month designing each subsystem on CAD through Onshape and prototyping with plywood, which we could easily manipulate and cut to shape thanks to our laser cutter. Each subsystem had multiple designs, each researched and created by different students, allowing us to choose the most ideal version while involving more members in the design process. The first few weeks of February focused on testing and finalizing subsystem prototypes. Our members spent the entirety of February break (1-9pm every day!) hard at work on the final builds, integration, software development and testing. The final week before our competition was used for fine-tuning and more testing.
Our team’s competition performance definitely showed strong improvement as time went on. While we faced some setbacks throughout the season, our determination, flexibility, and strategy still led us to many victories. At the Greater Boston Event, our alliance placed 4th, and at the URI Event our alliance placed 3rd. We qualified for the New England District Championship, and in the two weeks of preparation between events we made great improvements to our robot. The work paid off—our performance over that weekend was by far the strongest of the entire season. Just recently, we competed at the first ever Massachusetts State Championship in which our alliance placed 2nd.
Overall, this robotics season was one of growth, teamwork, and determination. Our members worked tirelessly, putting in many hours of hard work and dedication to create a robot that performed well. We are proud of all that we achieved this season and can't wait to continue growing and improving in the future. Thanks to our mentors, community members, and sponsors like you who supported us along the way. Once again, thank you for your investment in our team. We truly appreciate your commitment and look forward to working with you again in our next season.
