This week, Princeton Engineering Services had the pleasure to host the MidKnight Magic Too, a robotics team from West Windsor-Plainsboro Township Schools. Six students from this team of fifteen gathered in PES’s conference room to present their carefully engineered robot and the different aspects of being a competing robotics team. All dressed in green team shirts and greeted with pizza, the excitement of their project was clearly visible.

The team falls under First Tech Challenge, or FTC, which is a community focused on building a better world for tomorrow by engaging students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). FTC is designed for students in grades 7-12 to compete head to head using a sports model. Teams are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots to compete in a 2 alliance format against other teams.

The MidKnight Magic Too team was formed in 2015 as a Rookie FTC Team of 15 Students under the umbrella of The MidKnight Inventors FRC team. It is a diverse team of 7th-9th graders under the guidance of coaches and mentors. The common theme across the team members is the innate passion for STEM and Robotics.

It was amazing to see this passion in person in young scholars. Ruchir Raturi, a 9th grader who heads MidKnight Magic Too, started the presentation with an explanation of all the technical dimensions within this team. The other members jumped in as their roles on the mechanical, CAD, programming, electrical, fundraising, and outreach subdivisions were mentioned. Talk of the different sensors and wiring used sparked many questions and interesting discussions from the Princeton Engineering Services engineers. The effort that these children have put into their robot and extended learning is clearly visible and commendable.

We at Princeton Engineering Services are very pleased to be sponsoring a talented and driven team like MidKnight Magic Too. FTC is teaching students the value of hard work, innovation and creativity and it goes beyond competition by teaching students the importance of teamwork, designing sharing and promoting innovative ideas. We can’t wait to see you all succeed as young engineers in the future!