Over the summer, our team worked with 4-H to present a robotics activity in the 4-H building at the Vermont State Fair in Rutland. We built several XRP robots, which is an “Experiential Robotics Platform” developed by Sparkfun and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. WPI is a major partner of FIRST, and we expect these small robots to be a really useful tool in learning how control systems work in FIRST (and in general). They’re also cute and approachable, and inexpensive for hobbyists.
Our activity was featured in a recent “Across the Fence” episode:
We’ll be bringing our XRPs around with us to our open house and build/code/drive activity days, so watch our site for updates!
Since its inception in 2019, the Manchester Machine Makers has been both a 4-H club and a FIRST Tech Challenge team. We’ve had a blast participating in both 4-H and FTC, but we’ve discovered that a more focused approach makes for a more sustainable organization – especially since we are entirely made up of volunteers. This change just makes it easier to become a volunteer.
Therefore, we are very pleased to announce that we’re partnering with the Bennington Area Makers, Inc., a non-profit educational group that also sponsors our two neighboring FTC teams in Bennington. We are still a registered non-profit, so all your generous donations will continue to be tax-deductible, and this forges even closer ties with our friends, the Cookie Clickers and the Bolts and Biscuits.
Nothing else changes. We are still your favorite Manchester Machine Makers FTC#16221, and we will still see you at FTC competitions statewide, and at the Bennington Qualifier on January 23, 2027!
On Saturday, September 12, 2026, the Manchester Machine Makers FTC #16221 gathered with the Cookie Clickers FTC #16850, the Bennington Bolts & Biscuits, the new team from Equinox Valley Middle School in Manchester, and a representative from the Rutland FTC team to view the worldwide livestream revealing the FIRST® CANOPY™ game BIOBUZZ™ presented by RTX.The whole season draws inspiration from the cycles of the natural world, and BIOBUZZ, as you might expect, is influenced by the activity of pollinators.
We had been given small pieces of information over the summer, between last Spring’s World Championships (where the Cookie Clickers represented Vermont!) and Saturday’s game release. But these did not give us a real picture of what the game would be, and we were all very surprised to find a game that involves launching game elements, with a scoring system that is quite unique among recent games.
So we uncovered the field, provided by FIRST in Vermont, and calibrated the hive according to the Event Field Setup Guide from FIRST. From that point, there was not a moment when “pollen” and “nectar” wasn’t being scientifically tossed into the cells to make them tip; and senior team members grabbed pencil and paper to sketch ideas with junior members and newbies, and kids from different teams worked together to discuss the game’s challenges.
Now, teams all around the world are starting to build robots to address the various challenges of the BIOBUZZ game, and we are no different – only now we’ve all gotten to collaborate first. We’re looking forward to seeing you all at the Qualifiers!
On Saturday, September 12, 2026 at high noon, the next season of the FIRST® Tech Challenge will be revealed! FIRST® CANOPY™: BIOBUZZ™ presented by RTX is a game inspired by nature to challenge the creative engineering skills of youth worldwide.
FTC Teams that attend (and RSVP, please, to ftc16221@gmail.com) will each receive game elements to take home and get you started as you await the shipments of your game sets.
Come and get excited for another season! BIOBUZZ™ awaits!
Join the Manchester Machine Makers at the Manchester Community Library on Saturday, May 30, 11:00am – 1:00pm for a Robotics Show & Share event!
Manchester Machine Makers (MMM), a 4-H sponsored FIRST® Tech Challenge team, is hosting a Robotics Meet-And-Greet for (Southern) Vermont at the Manchester Community Library. We will set up stations to teach people with all different levels of experience about the different aspects of robotics, including hardware (Building the robot) and software (Coding the robot). With a couple of basic robots, we can drive around the room.
Our neighboring team, FTC #18650, the Bennington Cookie Clickers, will come and tell us about their experiences traveling to the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championships this spring in Houston, TX, after they won the Inspire Award at the Vermont FTC Regional Championship.
If you have your own robot, please bring it! If you don’t, learn how to build, program, and drive ours!
As a 4-H club, MMM is open to all students grades 7-12 (ages 12-18) in the local area who are interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) and/or robotics. MMM invites anybody interested in STEAM to join us for the Show & Share and learn more about what is being done to promote STEAM education in our community. Join us as we explore the future.
Zach, a 5-year veteran of the Manchester Machine Makers 4-H Club and FIRST Tech Challenge Team #16221 and a junior at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester Vermont, was recognized at the Vermont State Championships held on Saturday March 7 at South Burlington High School in South Burlington, Vermont as one of two FIRST Tech Challenge Leadership Award Finalists representing Vermont.
This award is a significant recognition of Zach’s dedication and leadership on the team and for the FTC community. He and Miles Vernon were both recognized by the Manchester Machine Makers as Semi-Finalists. To be selected as a Finalist from across all teams in Vermont is an honor which can lead to future opportunities in STEAM.
Congratulations!
From FIRST: What is the FIRST® Leadership Award?
The FIRST® Leadership Award recognizes the dedication and individual contributions of outstanding secondary school students participating on FIRST® Tech Challenge or FIRST® Robotics Competition teams. Students in 10th or 11th grade are eligible to be nominated by their team for the FIRST Leadership Award for excelling in areas such as leadership, entrepreneurship, and dedication to advancing the mission of FIRST within their communities.
There are four (4) levels of the FIRST Leadership Award.
FIRST Leadership Award Semi-finalists – comprised of the two (2) students in their 10th or 11th school year* nominated by each team.
FIRST Leadership Award District Championship Semi-finalists (FIRST Robotics Competition only) – The students selected at District events to be interviewed at the District Championship for Finalist consideration.
FIRST Leadership Award Finalists – The students selected for each Regional and District Region.
FIRST Leadership Award Winners – comprised of the ten (10) FIRST Robotics Competition and ten (10) FIRST Tech Challenge students selected from the applicable FIRST Leadership Award Finalists.
The students who earn FIRST Leadership Award status as a Semi-finalist, Finalist or Winner, are great examples of student leaders who have led their teams and communities to increased awareness for FIRST and its mission, champion FIRST Core Values such as Inclusion, and embody Gracious Professionalism®. It is the goal the FIRST Leadership Award Winners will continue, post-award, as great leaders, student alumni, and advocates of FIRST.
In 2019, the Woodie Flowers Memorial Grant was established for FIRST Leadership Award Winners pursuing STEAM fields of study.
The kickoff for FIRST: AGE – DECODE now seems an age ago! We’ve been through the exploratory builds, design and build of robot V1 (Jimmy Sheutron) and then the design, CAD, and build of robot V2.
Liam, Zach, Miles (and Ben in spirit) with their Inspire Award 3rd place trophy at Vermont Regional ChampionshipsZach, Miles, Ben, and Liam with their Inspire Award runner-up trophy at the Norwich Qualifier
December saw a change of plans – V1 had some design flaws which would limit its capabilities, no matter how many improvements we made. So the team made a mid-season choice to return to the drawing board for a completely new design. It included mechanisms that could theoretically accomplish every challenge the game offered.
V1 went with us to compete in the Bennington Qualifiers, which we helped host along with the Cookie Clickers and the Bennington Bolts & Biscuits. He was slow but steady, and did very well for us, earning a name (Jimmy Sheutron)! It was the first competition day where we didn’t need to fix things in a hurry between matches, which felt pretty remarkable. A couple of teams came from neighboring states, showing off a whole different level of competition than our low-key Vermont region usually experiences. So that Qualifier was a really useful day for our team, teaching us how to play the game and giving us a clearer idea of what the robot ought to be able to do.
Exhilarated from Bennington, the team threw themselves into a round of improvements on V2, while still learning to code and refine Jimmy. We just barely decided to take V2 to the Northfield Qualifier, hosted at Norwich University. Given its Work-In-Progress state, it was very impressive. It showed off its potential as our drivers improved with each match, being chosen as an alliance partner for the playoffs. Additionally, the team came home with a second place in the Inspire Award, which is a real honor.
Inspire Award Criteria
The team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and a role model FIRST team. This team is a top contender for many other judged awards and is a gracious competitor. The Inspire Award winner is an inspiration to other teams, acting with Gracious Professionalism® both on and off the playing FIELD. This team shares their experiences, enthusiasm, and knowledge with other teams, sponsors, their community, and the JUDGES. Working as a unit, this team will have shown success in performing the task of designing and building a ROBOT.
Team is able to describe, demonstrate, document, or display their experiences and knowledge to the JUDGES.
Team must submit a PORTFOLIO.
The Inspire Award celebrates the strongest qualities of all the judged awards. A team must be a strong contender for at least one award in each of the following judged award categories:
Machine, Creativity, and Innovation Awards,
Team Attributes Awards, and
Think Award
Team must be positive and inclusive, and each team member contribute to the success of the team.
Then, into the home stretch – with three weeks before the Vermont Regional Championships, and school vacation and travel, the team really put in the extra effort. They worked to refine the flywheel launcher, fabricate a lift mechanism, and tune RPMs vs. distance. Our chief code monkey wrote the Autonomous routine using both two-wheel + IMU odometry and the Limelight camera to localize with AprilTags. Our drivers practiced, and everyone pitched in to write an Engineering Portfolio that they could be proud of.
By the time the competition arrived, V2 could do everything reasonably well, and was a pretty interesting machine. It could intake artifacts (big wiffle balls) from anywhere on the field, drive with some nimbleness, index and sort the different colors of artifacts, recognize the AprilTag on the obelisk to determine which pattern to shoot; it could shoot three balls in pattern, in any order, or single balls of a specific color or any color. The drivers could set the flywheel to a near-target RPM or far-target RPM. The base was not so large that it would preclude any other robots from partially parking in the home base at the end of the game, allowing for a consistent full park + partial park score. It had a three-artifact autonomous routine that would also move appropriately, contributing to a Move Ranking Point in any match.
By midmorning, there were a great many “shoulder ducks” to be seen among other teams and volunteers as well, showing off our unique Manchester Machine Makers “got ducks?” style.
Qualifying rounds are always unpredictable, but the team gave a solid performance, ranking in the middle of the pack after five intense matches. V2 was easy to maintain, only needing fresh batteries between matches. With the code well-organized, we had the luxury of working on an enhanced autonomous during breaks without worry of breaking the main tele-op routine.
The judges were very busy throughout the competition and asked insightful questions, listening closely to the team as they explained everything from their brainstorming process to their outreach plans. With the careful documentation of V1 and V2, and obviously knowledgeable team members, the judges awarded third place in the Inspire Award to the team, out of 25 teams!
Topping it all off, our most senior member, Zachary Lindenberg,was selected as one of only two Finalists from Vermont for the FIRST Leadership Award.
FIRST Leadership Award
The FIRST® Leadership Award recognizes the dedication and individual contributions of outstanding secondary school students participating on FIRST® Tech Challenge or FIRST® Robotics Competition teams. Students in 10th or 11th grade are eligible to be nominated by their team for the FIRST Leadership Award for excelling in areas such as leadership, entrepreneurship, and dedication to advancing the mission of FIRST within their communities.
Everyone on the team was happy to see the competition season come to such a successful close. While we’re not planning to go to any further competitions, we are planning to participate in 4-H Communications Day on March 21st in Rutland. We’ll also have another Robotics Day at the Manchester Community Library, and we plan to bring a robotics activity to the State Fair late in the summer, before the next competition season begins.
Come see us at our events to acquire your very own rubber ducky to ride on your shoulder!
FIRST™ Technical Challenge (FTC) Comes to Bennington!
PUBLIC WELCOME!
Sat 1/31, Mount Anthony Union Middle School (MAUMS). 7:00 A – 5:00 P with main public spectator portion 10:30 A – 3:00 P.
Local FTC robotics teams, #18650 The Cookie Clickers, #32473 The Bennington Bolts and Biscuits, and #16221 The Manchester Machine Makers are thrilled to be hosting a Regional Qualifier for the FTC robotics competition at Mount Anthony Middle School in Bennington, VT on Sat 1/31.
This event will feature teams from Vermont and neighboring states with students 12-18 years old competing and cooperating (coopertition) in matches centered around this year’s archeological theme in the DECODE™ game.
Do you or someone you know think it is important to provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics experiences for youth in our community? Do you like to see kids learn and grow in team sports? Want to just be part of an amazing day of “gracious professionalism” in the form of “cooperative” robotics?
Consider volunteering to help with this event.
You can learn more about FIRST™ FTC at the bottom of this message.
We are currently looking for lead volunteers to help with the event in the following areas:
Lead Score Keeper – “Loves to learn and play new games and understand all the rules.” – ROLE: Sets up and manages the FTC-Live scoring system for the event. Works with the Event Director, Judge Advisor and FIRST Technical Advisor to provide match details, schedules and event printables. Distributes tablets to other event users (ex. Referees and Head Referee). HELPFUL SKILLS: Strong system administration, accuracy of match results and awards, multi-task to provide all requested schedules and reports for event flow, technical confidence. Works well with all event volunteers.
Lead Robot Inspector – “Did you say checklist? Count me in.” – ROLE: Reviews and understands game manual and robot specifications required for inspection; recruit, train and coach robot inspectors. HELPFUL SKILLS: Safety mindset, detail oriented, comfort with specifications and rules, ability to use checklists, hold firm on inspection standards while also supporting teams with technical guidance to ensure their robot is match-ready.
We also need lots of other volunteers who would have, mainly, day-of responsibilities. These include: judges, referees, scorekeepers, queuers, field reset, pit admin, etc. Can you spread the word?
FIRST™ Tech Challenge (FTC) is an international middle/high school robotics program (grades 7-12) where student teams design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in yearly, themed challenges, developing STEM, teamwork, and engineering skills through hands-on innovation and community outreach, all guided by mentors and adult coaches. Teams use a reusable kit to create robots that play complex games on a 12’x12′ field, scoring points by manipulating game elements autonomously and with driver control in alliance-based matches, learning leadership, problem-solving, and project management along the way.
The Cookie Clickers #18650 and the Manchester Machine Makers #16221 are hosting a party at the Manchester Community Library to celebrate the FIRST Tech Challenge AGE – DECODE kickoff on Saturday, September 6, 2025, 11am – 1:30pm. We hope that you all will join us for this second annual Southern Vermont kickoff!
We will begin at 11am in the community room at the Manchester Community Library:
138 Cemetery Ave., PO Box 1105 Manchester Center, VT 05255 Phone: 802-362-2607
As teams arrive, we will form a panel of team representatives to discuss last year’s experiences and this year’s goals.
At noon, the challenge will be released by FIRST, and we will watch the livestream on the big screen to learn the rules of the new game. (If you can’t make it and want to sign up for a reminder to watch the livestream on your own, you can do that here).
Then, we open up the brand new field (thank you, FIRSTinVT!) so that everyone can experience the genius of the AGE: DECODE game, with whatever robots we have from last year, or from the summer’s experiments. Feel free to bring your own robots as well!
There will be pizza for lunch, and each team will go home with a printed manual and a few game pieces.
We hope that you’ll all come and bring your expertise, ideas, and gracious professionalism to share!
Please let us know that you’re coming as a team so that we have enough manuals and game pieces on hand for you!
Join the Manchester Machine Makers at the Manchester Community Library on May 31, 1:00pm – 3:30pm for a Robotics Show & Share event!
Manchester Machine Makers (MMM), a 4-H sponsored FIRST® Tech Challenge team, is hosting a Robotics Meet-And-Greet for (Southern) Vermont at the Manchester Community Library. We will set up stations to teach people with all different levels of experience about the different aspects of robotics, including hardware (Building the robot) and software (Coding the robot). With a couple of basic robots, we can drive around the room.
Near the end of the event, people can share what they accomplished during the day and receive duckies for participating at a station. There will also be special ducks to earn, so give the day your all and have fun!
1:00 – 1:15 → Introducing the team
1:15 – 1:30 → Introducing the stations
1:30 – 2:45 → Stations
2:45 – 3:30 → Share achievements and receive duckies
As a 4-H club, MMM is open to all students grades 7-12 (ages 12-18) in the local area who are interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) and/or robotics. MMM invites anybody interested in STEAM to join us for the Show & Share and learn more about what is being done to promote STEAM education in our community. Join us as we explore the future.
