Information for Parents
Parents of students who wish to participate on the Ledyard robotics team must register through FIRST Inspires. Once you are registered, you will setup an account for your child who will then apply to our team through the web portal. We are FRC Team Number 1740, the Ledyard "Cyber Colonels". Please email the faculty advisor for more information about registering.
The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is open to Ledyard High School students ages 14-18. The faculty advisor for the team is currently Mr. Charles Estabrooks. The FRC season roughly corresponds to the winter sports season and runs from the first Saturday after New Year's Day until March or April. The first six weeks of the season is the design & build portion which is followed by six weeks of competitions. The team generally meets weekdays after school until about 6 pm, and Saturday's 10 am to 4 pm during the build season. We recognize that academics must come first and students are encouraged to attend robotics meetings as much as their schedules allow.
The Ledyard Cyber Colonels are part of the New England FIRST District and attend a minimum of two district competitions per season. Competitions take place on weekends, generally run all day Saturday and Sunday, and are held all around New England. The team attends events held in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Southern Mass. Transportation to and from events is provided by parents. Some parents choose to stay overnight during the events and others carpool. If the team performs well enough to qualify for the New England District championships, we will attend as long as we have sufficient funds. Our annual budget of between $9,000 and $13,000 is fully supported by corporate and family contributions. The regular season competition fee is $6000, and the cost of materials, supplies and tools runs $2500 - $3000 per year. The registration fee for competing in the district championships is $4000. Donations to the team can be made through the Ledyard Educational Advancement Foundation
We are fortunate to have some wonderful volunteer mentors who have helped the team improve over the last several years. The team won its first district competition in 2020, and qualified for district championships over the next two seasons*. In 2023, we were finalists at the Western New England district event, easily qualifying for district championships held at the "Big-E" grounds in Springfield, Mass. If you have any interest in mentoring the team, please contact the faculty advisor. We could always use assistance in the areas of mechanical engineering, control systems, Java programming, marketing, business planning, and public relations.
*In-person competitions were cancelled during the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the COVID pandemic