This past weekend, CORE 2062 competed at Lakeland University’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) District event in Plymouth, WI. This event was the first district event in Wisconsin, and it was an honor to compete there last weekend.

During the competition, our team placed 4th out of 33 teams during qualification matches and held the first place seed for over an hour. CORE had a win streak of 7 matches, followed by a loss streak of 3 matches, and ended qualifications with another 2 match win streak.

In the playoffs, we captained the third seed alliance, joined by team 3791, Hex Hounds, and team 6381, Red Raider Robotics. During playoffs, we had 3 wins and 2 losses, leading us to be ranked as the third place alliance.

Additionally, CORE 2062 received the Excellence in Engineering award. This award is given to a team with exceptional integration of modules and robot design organization. 

We are officially 4 weeks into the build season. Our team started manufacturing and assembling the launcher for our robot. After some testing, we are working on a spindexer mechanism for indexing the fuel. Intake finalized the needed dimensions and are getting close to the final version. Scouting is finishing up the new scouting engine and working on the safety manual. Programming fixed issues with April Tag code, making the turning smoother. They have also been working on the robot system ID. Outreach submitted our Woodie Flowers essay and are working on our Impact Essay and Executive Summaries.

This past Sat­ur­day, FIRST re­vealed the challenge for the 2026 FRC game, REBUILT. CORE spent the first half of the day at Mukwonago High school attending workshops. After the game release, we spent time collaborating with other FRC teams and came back with mul­ti­ple ideas on how to suc­ceed in this year’s game. In the early afternoon, we returned to South High School and went over safety presentations and strategized plans for the robot game. We look for­ward to overcoming the chal­lenges of the game!

It’s been 5 months since our FIRST competition season ended, and we have been  busy over the summer doing  outreaches at the Waukesha County Fair, Monday Night Movie of Wild Robot, and more.  We also had fun – and did well – in the 2 offseason competition events we attended.

On Tuesday, September 9th, at 6pm, we will be hosting our CORE  Fall Interest Night.  The event will be held in Room 108 at Waukesha South High School (enter through outside Door #5, near the corner of Tenny and Roberta Ave,).  All high school stu­dents in the Wauke­sha school dis­trict are invited  to learn more about our team – CORE (Community of Robotics Engineers) – and the organization of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).  There will be hands-on activities as you learn about the different subteams of CORE. 

Please sign up at  Fall Interest Night Sign Up to help us plan.

We look forward to meeting you on Sept 9th!

In late July, our team com­peted at MROC in Mukwonago.  At the end of qualifiers, we were ranked 9th and became the captain of the 6th seed alliance.  We selected 930 Mukwonago BEARs and 6421 WarriorBots as our alliance partners.  Unfortunately, each of the robots in our alliance had difficulties in the 2nd match of the playoffs, so our playoffs were short-lived.

In mid-August, we did an overnight trip to Eau Claire to compete in the second annual LRR Offseason event.  At the end of qualifying matches, we were ranked 5th and became the 4th seed alliance captain.  After selecting 5826 Avis Automata and 9996 as our alliance partners, we won 2 of our playoff matches, but lost in the semifinals.  We had lots of fun with the other teams at the event and were excited about our robot’s success. Congrats to 8744 Leviathans for winning their own event!

Only 2 weeks left until our first competition in La Crosse, and CORE is getting prepared.
We are making significant progress on the robot. Mechanical attached the final coral manipulator to the robot, as well as making modifications to the elevator and making more progress on a climber. Design worked on elevator drawings, designing motor mounts and redid hex shaft mounting brackets. Controls helped prototype and mount the camera on the robot. Programming continued work on autonomous code.
Outreach submitted their Impact presentation boards and received those back on Saturday. They also designed and printed hundreds of buttons and continued updating the Judges Book.

Can’t wait for Seven Rivers!

Another week has flown by, and the robot is coming together nicely! Design continued working on the official manipulator parts. Mechanical worked on the climber and coral manipulators and elevator cascading and began prototyping an algae system. Controls helped prototype and made robot preparations. Programming worked on the elevator and a system to track April Tags.

Outreach continued writing their Impact presentation and finished the visual aids. They also worked on buttons for the presentation.

One final note is our team’s Instagram account also just reached 1,000 followers, so that’s a big milestone for us!

We are halfway to our first competition, and lots of progress is being made. Design finished elevator drawings and gave them to the Mechanical subteam. Mechanical was then able to finish and mount the elevator on the drive train. Programming continued all previous work from last week, and scouting helped work on the outreach video. Also, after weeks of drafting, writing and editing, outreach was finally able to successfully submit their Impact Award.

Officially 1 month has past since Reefscape was released. Our team is making great progress! We have a working climber and finalized a coral scoring prototype. Exactly 6 weeks until Seven Rivers Regional!

2 weeks ago, FIRST released the 2025 FRC game, Reefscape. (If you didn’t see the release video, click HERE)

Since then, our team has been very busy preparing for our first competition in LaCrosse, Wisconsin on March 20-22. We have strategized, prototyped (and re-prototyped), built field elements, updated programming, and designed frames and parts. We’re finalizing prototype ideas to start manufacturing, and we plan on having a functioning robot by February 16th, just in time for us to attend a local scrimmage.

On the other side of the team, Outreach/business has also been very busy working on award submissions and preparing for the Wisconsin FLL State Championship, which is hosted by our team. 

9 weeks and counting until Seven Rivers Regional.