Portledge School’s Robotics Program began in September of 2013, overseen by teachers Mr. Nelson and Mr. Coleman in the Upper School and Mr. Ronde in the Middle School (supported by Mrs. Chiu). Both programs used For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) programs as capstone competitions. Originally, Portledge School only had one Upper School team, 7417 Portledge Robotics, and one Middle School team, 22112 Portledge Middle School Robotics. During Portledge Robotics’s rookie season (Block Party), Team 7417 made it all the way to the finals of the qualifier event at Syosset High School. The Middle School team got off to a rough start, but still participated in that year’s competition (Nature’s Fury). 

Due to that first season’s success and increasing student interest in the programs, FIRST Tech Challenge Team 8818 Portledge Panthers was established the following year in September of 2014 (the team was later renamed Portledge Hit the Switch after an incident of power switch forgetfulness during a local competition). A third FTC team, Portledge Robo Time (11649), was added in 2015. In 2023, a fourth team was added, Portledge Duct Tape and Pizza Bots (22692). Portledge aims to keep its FTC teams small, so every student is able to have a direct impact on the design, building, and coding of the Robot. 

The Middle School program ran from Fall 2013 to Spring 2016; due to staffing issues and the time needed to run a successful program, the MS portion of Robotics was suspended in Spring 2016. It was restarted Spring 2019 as a once-a-week club block, and then in the 2019 - 2020 academic year as both an in-school club block and an After School Adventures team, both run by Maria Zografos and supported by volunteers Joel Friedman and Vicky Cohen. 

In the Upper School, Robotics teams consist of students taking one of the year-long Robotics courses. The course levels meet together in one of two sections and are composed of up to sixteen students per section and one of two full-time teachers (with partial support from the other). The classes are full credit courses that meet four class periods each block cycle. The teams are a combination of students who have never taken part in a FIRST competition and some that have participated previously, so each season is like a “rookie year” with a few returning veterans leading the way. The Robotics 1 course begins with an introduction to the engineering design process and then moves into developing basic design, engineering, CAD, and coding skills. Once the students have a basic understanding of these skill areas, the current FTC game is introduced and students begin to design, build, code, and test competition robots. Robotics 2+ students have some refresher assignments, but are assigned projects that build on the previous year’s content. Students also participate outside of class on the weekends, attending build sessions and other Robotics events.

Students currently have two options in the Middle School to learn about Robotics. Under the instruction for Mr. Beaton, 8th Grade students take a single semester Robotics course, where they learn about LEGO Spike Prime (previously the EV3) robots and how to code them with a block-based language. If students want to experience what it is like to compete in FIRST, they can sign up to be part of the Middle School Team that meets after school. Curriculum is driven almost exclusively by the FLL competition or LEGO Education content.