NESPA Winner: News story, 2023

The Ghostwriter, Westford Academy, Westford, MA

Ghost Robotics has officially qualified for the Massachusetts State Championship at Andover High School on Saturday, Mar. 4 after winning the Qualifiers competition on Saturday, Jan. 7 at Lexington High School. Led by senior captain Nakul Joshi, and advisors Steve Wojcik and Jeff Warren, Ghost Robotics teamed up with FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Team 8644 ‘Brainstormers’ from Lexington at Qualifiers, forming a dominant alliance that helped them extend their season and advance to the next round.

The road to the State Championship is a long one, starting back in September for Ghost Robotics. In September, FTC teams around the world received word on what the season’s “challenge” would entail, which combines “the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology” according to firstinspires.org. With this information, the team proceeded to construct a robot that both follows the rules, and gives them the best chance at winning the challenge.

In early December, Ghost Robotics used a robot prototype to compete in unofficial scrimmages where they learned what types of robots other teams had created, and tested their own prototype. A few weeks later, after making modifications to their robot, Qualifiers took place, which Ghost Robotics won, helping them move on to the State Championship. Wojcik was pleased with his team’s performance at Qualifiers, and recognizes adjustments that they have to make in order to be prepared for the State Championship.

Read the full story here.