2025 Fall Update/Crowdfunding
Veronica Hui (Mentor) talks strategy with Teddy Shi (’27) and Sabina Sandrasagra (’28) before a match
BU Crowdfunding
This week, the Lobstah Bots kicked off our crowdfunding campaign for Fall 2025! It will run until December 30th at midnight. Last year, our crowdfunding total rivaled that of BU’s soccer, dance, and crew teams; with your help we can repeat this success. We rely on donations to fund registration fees, buy new robot parts, and pay for transportation, food, and lodging. Our last season was our most successful in over a decade, qualifying for the New England District Championship for the third year straight and winning the Team Spirit award there for our “incredible dedication to showcasing [our] enthusiasm,” “[team culture] that is welcoming to all students,” and “evident dedication to promoting team morale.”
With your support, we’ll keep this wonderful team spirit going and hope to go even further in the 2026 FIRST Robotics Competition game, Rebuilt.
Please consider donating to our crowdfunding campaign at https://give.bu.edu/lobstah-bots.
Thank you for all your contributions!
If you’d like to be more involved or have any questions, you can email us at lobstahbots@gmail.com and we would be happy to respond!
Here’s what the Lobstah Bots have been up to lately!
CSF, Roboston, and N.E.R.D.
On Sunday, September 21st, the Lobstah Bots ran a stand at the Cambridge Science Festival (CSF). At CSF, various companies and organizations where showing how different parts of STEM can help move the world forward. The Lobstah Bots had lots of fun demonstrating our robot to lots of interested families and inspired youth of Boston!
Our robot, Beluga, scores a game piece during a demo at the Cambridge Science Festival
On Saturday, September 27th, the Lobstah Bots rolled out to attend MassRobotic’s annual robot block party, RoboBoston, in Seaport. The event featured cutting-edge technology from various companies in Boston, as well as fellow FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) robots. From a robot parade to various robot demonstrations, our team had a blast connecting with the STEM-loving community in Boston of all ages!
Coco Mueller (’26) and Eliana Mirkis (’28) grab a selfie with mayor Michelle Wu at Roboboston
A week later, we drove up to Billerica to compete at the 2025 New England Robotics Derby (N.E.R.D.). After a few unlucky qualification matches, we ended up ranked 30th, but our robot performance was noticed by Team 4909, the Bionics, from Billerica (our gracious event hosts) and Team 467, Center of Mass, from Shrewsbury, who selected us to join them on the #6 alliance. Rounding out the team was Team 5735, the Control Freaks, from Wayland. As an alliance, we pulled off a couple of upsets in the bracket, finishing fourth in the competition.
Eliana Mirkis (’28) works on the robot in the pits.
Left to right: Sharon Xiong (’27), Hana Kaneko (’27), Evie Caffrey O’Reilly (’28), and Eliana Mirkis (’28) pose at NERD. Throughout the competition, new members and old members alike tried out new roles in scouting, the robot pit crew, media-capturing, and driving. We had rotations for the ‘drive team,’ so students had the opportunity to try out various roles including driver, operator, and drive coach, as well as human player and technician.
During the competition, the Lobstah Bots also created a scavenger hunt as a fun bonus for rookie members to get to know the robotics event environment and their peers. New members were paired up with returning members and walked around pits to learn more about how the competition works and get to know other teams there and their robots. In true FRC spirit, the team later opened up the scavenger hunt for everyone at the event to participate in!
Fall Welcome Party
To welcome our new members to the fleet, we also hosted our annual Fall Welcome Party in September! We introduced what being on the team means and explained the role of each subteam, the season timeline, and what to expect. We played a safety Kahoot to remind everyone—new and returning members alike—of the lab safety rules. Afterward, the team bonded over pizza and watching a robot demo, giving students a chance to get to know each other and the mentors. Welcome to everyone who came to the party and to those joining the robotics team for the first time!
Thank you for following our journey as Team 246, we’ll keep you posted more adventures to come!
Sincerely,
The Lobstah Bots
