In March 2005, five 6th grade girls and Adina Desaulniers, 6th grade science teacher, attended a Girls Connect event (an introductory activity for First Lego League) at the Thayer School of Engineering. The girls named their team Trident and the seed for RMS Robotics was planted. Thanks to Esra K., Lauria C., Isabelle D., Sarah C., and Molly Z., the original five students, who wanted to explore the world of robotics and have great fun that day.
During 2006, data was gathered from students, parents, and staff members, about the idea and feasibility of a RMS robotics enrichment program.
In the spring of 2007, the RMS Curriculum Committee awarded RMS Robotics $1440 in seed money to register two teams and procure hardware. More importantly, the RMS Curriculum Committee supported the formal development of a science and technology enrichment program. During the month of August 2007, prospective students dropped-in for weekly Tuesday and Thursday morning sessions of " Lego robotics". These 3 hour meetings gave interested students an opportunity to explore the challenge of RCX and NXT programming as well as build and test simple Lego robots. Additionally, students were actively engaged in honing their social skills to meet the daily drop-in lesson goals. By September 2007, three co-ed teams were formed (Deep Thought, Robotics Penguins, and Robo Robot Robotics). Twenty students representing grades 6, 7 and 8 formed the three teams. During that first season, Team Deep Thought earned a 2nd Place Robot Performance Award at the Dartmouth Qualifying Tournament and Team Robo Robot Robotics earned our first trophy at the NH State Championship.
Building on the success of our past season, three new teams formed during the 2008 season (Ur-Cranium, Longi-Dudes and Robo Squids). Team rosters grew larger and more parents volunteered as coaches and assistant coaches. During this season Team Ur-Cranium became the first corporate-sponsored team thanks to the generous donations from Simbex, Kielly Insurance, Mascoma Savings Bank and Systems Plus Computers. Also during this season, three Dartmouth College mentors volunteered their time to work with our three teams. All three teams competed at the Dartmouth regional qualifying tournament in November 2008 at the Thayer School of Engineering. One of our teams, RoboSquids, received the Champions Award and advanced to the state finals in December 2008.
In 2009, a key highlight to the season was that all three of our teams (Gigabotz, Robo Squids, and Legendary Genius Organization) qualified for the NH State Championship, a RMS Robotics first. Team Legendary Genius Organization designed a team website with a link to their research project: https://sites.google.com/site/legormsproject/home
By 2010 RMS Robotics expanded to four teams (Team Builder Droids, Team Body Builders, Team L.E.G.O. and Team Sasquatch) as student interest continued to grow. All four teams participated in the Dartmouth Regional Tournament. Three of our four teams advanced to the NH State Championship. Team Sasquatch earned a special Judges Award, too! At the end of the season, our teams presented their Body Forward research projects to the RMS staff and parents during a Wednesday, December 9th staff meeting.
The 2011 challenge was named Food Factor. Teams explored the topic of food safety and "examined the possible points of contamination our food encounters--from exposure to insects and creatures, to unsterile processing and transportation, and to unsanitary preparation and storage". Each team needed to find ways to prevent or combat these contaminants. They also needed to research, develop and share their innovative food safety solutions. Teams Panda Pepper People, TWACA (Team With a Cool Acronym), and Team GermBusters represented RMS at the Dartmouth regional tourney in November. All three teams advanced to the NH State Championship. Seven Upper Valley teams advanced on that day and RMS represented three of these seven slots.... a truly amazing accolade for the kids and the parent coaches. Teams also presented their research projects to the RMS faculty on December 14th, after the state championship. Students also created three RMS Robotics banners that were displayed during the tournaments.
We began our sixth competition year in 2012. In March 2012, Adina Desaulniers partnered with Randy Witwick, a Ray School parent, to help establish a FLL program at the Ray School. Team Raybots became a reality during the 2012-2013 academic year. When the competition season began in August, we had a record student enrollment and five teams were organized ( Team TWACA, Whippersnappers, Fibonacci Four, VS-6, and Richmond Robot Rebels). Members from the teams participated in the RMS Technology Night in October where attendees could program robots and see actual missions that were designed by this year's teams. RMS Robotics was also the recipient of two generous donations. The Byrne Foundation funded our purchase of three NXT bricks. ANSYS Inc. purchased a complete Mindstorms kit. All five of our teams participated in the Dartmouth Tournament and four advanced to the NH State Championship.
In 2013, ANYSYS Inc. made a large donation to the RMS Robotics program which helped us procure EV3s, the newest generation of robot bricks. Kristi Fenner, RMS parent and Robotics parent, was instrumental in making this donation a reality and we are sincerely grateful for her effort. This year's challenge theme was named Nature's Fury. Students explored awe-inspiring storms, earthquakes, waves that we call natural disasters. Teams discovered what could be done when intense natural events meet the places people live, work, and play. Team Damage Control and Team Terremoto competed at the Dartmouth tournament. Two additional teams advanced to the NH State Championship. (Team Disaster Waiting to Happen and Team TWACA). Team TWACA also earned the 1st Place Award for Core Values /Inspiration at the State Championship. Some of our students were featured in a Thayer School of Engineering video about Robotics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAfDP80eJ3w&feature=em-share_video_user
Three organizational "firsts" happened during the 2014 World Class challenge season. One "first" was Team Rubix Cubix held an educational outreach and fundraiser event in conjunction with the Dartmouth Bookstore. Team members spent a Sunday afternoon teaching visitors the basic algorithm for solving a Rubix cube. The second "first" was all three teams that competed at the NH State Championship ( Team League of Learners, Team Rubix Cubix, and Team TWACA) earned trophies at the competition. Finally, two of our Hanover High School mentors (and former RMS Robotics students), Kiely SM and Owen V. were recognized with the Young Mentors of the Year award. Joining these three teams during the regular season were Team L.E.G.O. and Team Roblox.
From 2015 to 2017, RMS Robotics continued to flourish. Each year, five teams worked on the annual challenges named Trash Trek, Animal Allies, and Hydro Dynamics. During those seasons, RMS Robotics teams earned various awards at the Dartmouth Qualifying Tourney. Each year, at least one RMS team advanced to the NH State Championship. One notable award happened during the 2016 season. Team Roadkilz earned the 2nd Place Champions Award at the NH State Championship and became the first RMS team to advance to the FLL World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, during April 2017.