While the initial event of the 2025 First Robotics Competition is two months away, the DLS “AutoPilots” are currently designing, constructing, and testing their robot. 

Now in their seventh year, the AutoPilots won their first district championship in 2024, and qualified for the April 2024 state championships and world championships in Houston, TX.

Although the competition “game” rules were released in early January, the AutoPilots made strategic improvements on the robot’s frame and chassis during the first semester.

Building a competition-ready robot requires tremendous teamwork.

“Each sub-team working in balance with one another, feeding ideas from one to the next, all relying on each other in one of the greatest examples of teamwork out there in the world,” said junior Gabe Enghauser. 

The sub-teams include

• CAD (Computer Aided Design)
• Coding
• Electrical
• Building
• Safety
• Finance

Gabe said, “The Electrical is going quite well, with new members gaining hands-on experience with the robot chassis as well as valuable electrical engineering experience.”

He said the CAD team is currently drafting and designing various iterations that are then tested mathematically, while the build team is constructing new pieces nearly every day. 

The team expects to finish its robot over the next few days and then begin testing and coding for the next three weeks. 

The team’s first competition is March 14 - 16, with a second competition March 28 - 30. 

Based on the results from those two events, teams qualify for the state event April 3 - 5. World competition is April 16 - 19. 

DLS Science Teacher Mr. Rob Black, who is also the Robotics team moderator, said, “This team has come a long way in seven years and has started to achieve a very high level of success that many robotics teams have not yet had a chance to experience. This is due to the hard work and long hours that the boys and their mentors put in and the support of our generous sponsors, including Impact Analysis and Molex.”

Black added, “FIRST Robotics commonly advertises itself as the hardest fun you will ever have, and they are not wrong. The time, effort, and money that this team puts into a competitive robot and then watching the robot’s success at competitions makes it all worth it.”

The team fully expects to qualify for the Worlds again, but, conscious of the 3M’s of Robotics -“Members, Mentors, and Money” - is seeking additional “angels.” 

The 2024 team had 17 members, including six seniors, and the 10 of the remaining team members are back, accompanied by 15 new members. 

The 2025 team includes

Seniors

• Anthony Raffin
• Daniel Taylor
• James Raffin
• Joseph Brannigan - Team Captain, Code Captain
• Robert Reeves

Juniors

• Aidan Elher
• Alexander Kardasz
• Curtis Yaek - Build Captain 
• Ender Straughen
• Evan Kelley - Finance Captain
• Gabe Enghauser - CAD Captain, Electrical Captain
• Jacob Anderson
• Julian Shahmurad
• Michael Azzi
• Parker Josephs

Sophomores:

• Aidan McDonald
• Benjamin Parr
• Hudson Williams
• Justin Cook
• Lucien Lamothe
• Sebastian Morrison
• Darold Walters-Hatcher 

Freshmen:

• Joseph Lotito
• Malachi Nieman