Heading into the Missouri-Kansas State Championship, Plus Gang (Team #16498), was prepared to put their hard work to the test. The independent, non-school-affiliated FTC Robotics team—composed of five seniors from South and four 8th graders from Southwest Middle—had spent months designing, refining, building, and programming their robot in preparation for the competition.
Now, their efforts have paid off. Out of approximately 8,000 FTC teams in 30+ countries, only 256 advance to the FTC World Championship in Houston, Texas, April 16-18 and Plus Gang is one of them.
In Houston, Plus Gang will have the chance to learn from and connect with STEM enthusiasts from around the globe.
“Our goal for the World Championship is to advance to the finals bracket on the second day of competition as we want to compete as much as we can with these international teams,” said Adam Zhang, a senior on Plus Gang who specializes in robot driving, programming, and AI image recognition.
But what exactly does a robotics competition entail?
FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) challenges teams to complete specific tasks with their robots to earn points, such as moving objects, climbing structures, and collaborating with teammates.
A robotics match lasts 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The first 30 seconds is called the Autonomous Period, where robots follow pre-programmed commands to score points. The remaining 2 minutes, known as Tele-Op, allow drivers to control their robots and score points. Teams compete in two-team alliances, and while teams may work together in one match, they might face off as opponents in the next.
The 2024-25 FTC game focuses on underwater exploration. Robots must complete tasks that simulate deep-sea missions. To complete these tasks, Plus Gang developed a flexible, modular, and reliable robot—attributes that proved essential for scoring high and winning the state championship.
Plus Gang’s robot is very complex.
“Our robot contains three main assemblies. First is our drivetrain. This houses all of our electronics, our wheels, sensors, and our main 4 motors to drive the robot. On top of that are our vertical extensions, which consist of a pair of belt slides that score our game elements and hang our robot. Lastly, we have horizontal slides, which intakes the game elements and dispenses them into our robot,” said Noah Eads, a senior on Plus Gang who specializes in robot design, CAD, and 3D printing.
To explain how the robot picks up game pieces, Teagan Thomes, a senior on Plus Gang who specializes in programming, said, “Our intake system spins two vertical spinners to suck in the game elements.”
Plus Gang’s robot is also very adaptable.
“Our robot was designed to be modular and flexible so that it can perform every task in the game,” said Zhang. “A versatile robot is very beneficial, as we’re often paired with teams that can only do one task of the game, so in that case we just do the other tasks and are able to maximize our points,” Zhang said.
But how exactly did Plus Gang advance to the World Championship?
“In January, we won the STL South league tournament in both the robot game and judging categories. This earned our stop at the Missouri-Kansas State Championship, where we competed against the best 36 teams between the two states. We went 5-1 in our matches at state, which qualified us for the championship bracket, where we went undefeated and placed 1st,” said Eads.
Plus Gang has competed against the top teams in the MO/KS region, advancing to Worlds alongside their alliance partner, The Bombers (Team #13312) from John Burroughs High School.
However, what makes Plus Gang stand out isn’t just their robot; it’s their culture.
“We always work well with other teams, and we enjoy helping out in our community,” said Jake Bovaconti, a senior on Plus Gang who specializes in the robot’s drivetrain and linear slides.
“We’ve reached out to younger people within FIRST who are trying to learn more about robotics,” he said.
Zhang elaborated on outreach.
“This year alone, we represented FTC at the FLL State Championship, Sci-Fest at the St. Louis Science Center, and we also helped local Girl Scouts get their engineering badge by demonstrating our robot at one of their meetings,” Zhang said.
Aside from outreach in their community, Plus Gang also collaborates with STEM mentors.
“One professional we worked with was John Harder & Company, a St. Louis company that specializes in the engineering and manufacturing of custom forklift attachments. I got to go out to their building and work with them to weld two steel hooks that we use on our robot for hanging,” Eads said.
Beyond mechanical improvements, the team has also collaborated with mentors to refine their software.
“We’ve worked with multiple computer scientists to resolve programming issues,” said Thomes.
The team’s journey to the World Championship wasn’t without its challenges. As an independent team without school sponsorship, funding was one of their biggest hurdles.
“We applied for grants from Bayer, Boeing, Gene Haas, and the JoAnn Brenner Foundation. This has helped us raise $3,500 for this year’s season. We’re also doing a pizza fundraiser with JJ Twigs,” said Eads.
As they prepare for the World Championship, Plus Gang remains excited.
“We’re aiming for a 6-4 record, which could give us a chance to make the playoffs,” said Eads.
For Plus Gang, advancing to the World Championship marks a significant achievement in their engineering careers and will be something they’ll never forget.
