The Team / History / Additional Work

2002 – The Xaverian High School robotics team was founded during the 2001-2002 school year. The earliest memory of the team's origin is of then-principal Dr. Marino wheeling a TV into a sophomore STRP (Science & Technology Research Program) class and showing a promotional video for FIRST.
The team, then called XHSRobotics, was coached by Mr. John Ferrera and mentored by engineers Paul Kadar and Roy Cirillo. Our workshop served as the study hall when we weren't working in it, and as a storage room for state textbooks over the summer. It is currently the Vincent M. Theurer Fitness Center. Members of the Xaverian Stage Crew helped us build practice field elements and the shipping crate.
Robot Name: Made in Brooklyn (nicknamed Fat ******* due to weight issues forcing an all-night rebuilding session the night before shipping)
Events Attended: The NYC Regional @ Columbia University
Awards: Recognized for Best Rookie Website

2003 – Coaching duties were taken over by Dr. Sean Kelly, who would mentor the team for 5 seasons. The team moved into a new workshop space, a little-known storage area behind the locker room, affectionately known as “the cage,” which is still our home today. The team logo also underwent a change.
Robot Name: Made in Brooklyn II (nicknamed Flippy McFlip-Flip due to high center of gravity issues when going up the ramp in the Stack Attack game)
Events Attended: The NYC Regional @ Riverbank State Park

2004 – This marked the first year that the team advanced to the quarterfinals in competition. We also attended the Championship Event in Atlanta for, so far, the only time in team history, making a respectable showing in the Archimedes division. After encountering the Pink Team both in NYC and Atlanta, the Xaverian team members considered the value of somehow adding girls to their all-boy team. In the Summer of '04, Dr. Kelly and team members hosted a two-week Lego Robotics Summer Camp in Xaverian's DeMatteis Alumni Hall, where students going into 7th and 9th grade were able to explore projects and compete against each other using Lego Mindstorms kits.
Robot Name: Scoops (named for its resemblance to Bob the Builder's bulldozer)
Events Attended: The NYC Regional @ Riverbank State Park
The Championship Event @ The Georgia Dome

2005 – This was the first year that we did not compete in the NYC Regional. That year, it took place on Easter weekend and, as a Catholic school, we decided that competing would be against school policy. We instead went to the SBPLI Long Island Regional.
Robot Name: The Hoss (named for its robustness but nicknamed Works in Theory due to performance concerns)
Events Attended – SPBLI Long Island Regional @ Hofstra University

2006 – This year we welcomed 4 female students and a physics teacher mentor from one of Xaverian's sister schools, Bishop Kearney High School. The newly co-ed team underwent a major image makeover. They became known as Kappa Xi Rho (Greek letters for KXR – Kearney/Xaverian Robotics) and sported togas to competition. We also adopted the adorable Xi-looking mascot called Trig Newton. After our second advancement to the quarterfinals of NYC, we attended the inaugural year of the unofficial post-season event Monty Madness at Montgomery Township HS.
Robot Name – Sisyphus (an early design of the robot would have rolled balls up and down a conveyor belt, reminiscent of the myth of Sisyphus)
Events Attended – NYC Regional @ Riverbank State Park
Monty Madness

2007 – The team once again drastically altered their appearance, becoming known as the Brooklyn Blacksmiths, after a team member exclaimed during a discussion about advancing our fabrication capabilities “We don't need a welder, we need a blacksmith!” Our mascot donned a leather welding apron and a huge hammer made out of PVC pipe, coffee cans and electrical tape.
Robot Name – The Anvil (inspired by our Blacksmith gimmick and our team motto, the proverb “The anvil fears no blows.”)
Events Attended – NYC Regional @ the Jacob Javits Center
Monty Madness

2008 – Two members from Xaverian's other sister school, Fontbonne Hall Academy, joined the team. The team welded our robot for the first time this year, with the welder and off-site welding location coming through the generosity of the family of our two new female members. After the departure of Dr. Kelly, coaching was taken over by Mr. Simon Kraatz. Team members scouted other robots in competition by attending the New Jersey Regional as spectators. We also added the inaugural Pascack Panda-monium to our competition schedule in the Fall of 2008, giving brand new members joining at the beginning of the school year a chance to experience competition.
Robot Name: No Name (the team never agreed on a name, the official regional booklet kept the previous year's robot name, meanwhile we have been calling it No Name)
Events Attended – NYC Regional @ the Jacob Javits Center
Monty Madness
Pascack Panda-Monium

2009 – Now consisting only of Xaverian and Fontbonne students, the team was able to afford registration for two regional competitions for the first time – the NYC and the SPBLI Long Island regionals. In their return to Long Island, the team advanced to the quarterfinals. Former team captain and college student mentor James Schreiner was hired by Xaverian, becoming faculty co-moderator. In addition to a fourth year of Monty Madness, we competed in the 8th annual Brunswick Eruption on Halloween.
Robot Name – Suzyphus (a hybrid of Sisyphus, the 2006 robot which was also a six wheel drive ball shooter; and Suzy, Mr. Kraatz's pet dachsund)
Events Attended – NYC Regional @ the Jacob Javits Center
SPBLI Long Island Regional @ Hofstra University
Monty Madness
Brunswick Eruption 8