Even though the 2023-24 season is coming to a close, we still have many more #TeamREV stories to share! Meet the WildStang Robotics Program, heading home after a thrilling week competing at FIRST Championship in Houston.

Tell us a little bit about your team’s background.

WildStang was founded in 1996 and has been running ever since. Plus One was founded a few years later in 1998 before taking a hiatus after the 2002 season. In 2022, Plus One was reinstated and has been competing alongside WildStang forming the WildStang Robotics Program (WSRP). We also have multiple FLL teams at our affiliate school, MacArthur Middle School, in Prospect Heights, IL, which is also where our FRC shop is currently located. Our 2023 FRC teams tops out at 75 students hailing from all seven Township High School District 214 high schools on Chicago’s northwest suburbs. We are partnered with High School District 214, Motorola Solutions, and BOSCH.

The student → mentor cycle is a big part of our success. One point of pride in our mentor staff is that 11 of our mentors are FRC alumni. Our program has 12 technical mentors from the defense, communications, coin-op, automation and broadcasting fields. Additionally, we have two non-technical mentors from the communications and healthcare fields. 

WSRP is a credit-bearing program at our high schools. To facilitate this, five teachers oversee most of the administrative tasks of the team as well as ensure that the program is meeting or exceeding the education requirements of our school district. 

We assign students to Team 111 or 112 based on their years of experience in WSRP. 112 primarily consists of underclassmen while 111 is primarily upperclassmen. The choice for two FRC teams was one of the big takeaways from our very successful 2021 intramural season. We found that our limited engagement in underclassmen was mostly due to there not being enough work for 75 students on a team that was only building one robot, so the natural conclusion was two robots with dedicated work for each age bracket.

What are a few achievements your team was proud of this season?

• This season, we have created a demo bot sponsored by BOSCH that we use at our various demonstrations. It is a robot that encompasses the classic design of FRC robots with the ability to shoot balls similar to the RAPID REACT game. This robot has all the capabilities to be used in a real FRC competition. We created this robot instead of using previous robots where students would have to learn the commands of the robot. This robot is easy to understand and can be easily operated by anyone. It’s small size also allows it to be transported easily to different events.
• WildStang participated in a Boys & Girls Club night activity in cooperation with STMicroelectronics. WildStang brought our demo robot to showcase FRC to the kids as well as conducted a couple of STEM activities to help inspire kids to pursue STEM careers.

What does your team enjoy within the #TeamREV Program?

The WSRP is enjoying the various resources provided by REV Robotics. We love the access to hundreds of parts that make our robots so successful. Our team members are enjoying talking to other #TeamREV members and learning about their programs and their build progress.

What else would you like to share about your team?

This build season, we quickly worked to produce the two best robots that we can. Follow our Open Alliance build blog on Chief Delphi or our social media channels to get an overview of our season!

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