FTC Resources

A lot of our NERD Spark members have come from the FTC team, NERD Bots. Nerd Bots FTC robotics team was in session from 2018-2022. NERD BOTs encouraged the development of students’ interests in the areas of math, science, and engineering by learning to design, build, program, and operate a robot. This robot was used to compete in challenging robot games released each season. By doing so, our team prepares young minds to work and thrive in an increasingly technological world.

In our Rookie season in 2018-2019, we participated in two qualifiers, one in Canton and one in Mason. We also won two awards, the “Control Award” and the “Winning Alliance” award. The “Control Award” awards teams who have well-designed control systems.

In our second season in 2019-2020, we built and programmed an amazing robot and qualified through up to the world competition. We earned our spot at states due to the "Inspire Award," an award that is only given to teams who have inspired the judges with their engineering notebook and how we presented it. We were looking forward to our time at the world competition very much, but unfortunately, it was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We held many fundraisers and outreach events, but some had to be cancelled or moved due to this pandemic.

In our third season, we had to work online because of Covid-19, but we were still able to hold a leaf raking fundraiser. We also held a Vex-VR session where we taught younger kids how to code! We had our first competition in 2021 because they could not hold it earlier due to cases in Michigan. Unfortunately, we were not able to make it to States, but we still had a lot of fun!

For our 2021-2022 season, we built and programmed a unique robot which we took to the Novi Qualifier. We also did lots of outreach. Some of which included leaf-raking, international outreach, and many others. At Novi, we were able to get a high score of 192 points and we made it to the Finals. Unfortunately, we got 2nd place, but that was still enough to get us to States! We also went to the 2021 Bedford Qualifier. We got the 3rd highest score in the world with 264 points! We ended up being the winning alliance and we also won the Inspire Award! At States, we weren't able to win but we still had a great time.

In our 2022-2023 season, we went all the way to Lakeview to compete in a qualifier there. We ended up having a high score of 165. We made it to semifinals where we had an unfortunate accident. Our robot tipped over and we weren't able to compete. However, by a miracle, our teammates recovered us and scored 60 points and we won that game. We got first place and we won the Control Award and second place Inspire. We made it into states and won our division as the 2nd pick for our 3rd alliance captain. However, we lost to a very close match. We won the motivate award for the first time in our time of being an FTC at states.

Below is listed FTC resources such as the Engineering Notebooks and tutorials throughout the seasons.