Join the Team
Become a GearCat
Join as a 7th or 8th Grade Student
Are you interested in becoming a member of the GearCats? Let us know you’re interested by emailing GearCatsRobotics@gmail.com.We typically have an interest form students fill out in the fall that can be found in the Clague Newsletter. Students pay annual member dues of $75.00 to be a GearCat. Member dues help cover costs for equipment, t-shirts and event fees and food. Scholarships may be available, please ask the principal!
Looking to Mentor?
If you are interested in giving back to the community, mentoring is a great opportunity for students to learn from your valuable skills! Send us an email to GearCatsRobotics@gmail.com.
Looking to Donate?
Whether you are interested in giving a monetary donation or a donation in kind. Start a conversation with us!
Looking for High School Robotics?
GearCats is for students in 7th-8th grade. For students in 9th-12th grade, check out FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 830, the RatPack!
Season Structure
The FTC Season begins with the Kick-off and Game Reveal where the team gathers to play a few ice-breakers before we learn the new FTC game and begin to strategize its important aspects. We then enter the Build Season, where we hold regular meetings where we design (and redesign), build (and rebuild), wire (and rewire), program (and reprogram), troubleshoot, and practice with the robot. During the Build Season, students create an Engineering Notebook that illustrates the robot’s design, programming, electronics and evolving concepts.
Right before the end of Build Season, GearCats attend a Scrimmage (or mock-competition). Scrimmages are great opportunities to see how the robot might perform when playing the game with other robots in a low stress environment. They give students a chance to make changes, get driving practice, and repair the robot.
Once the Build Season comes to an end, we enter Competition Season, where the GearCats robot competes head-to-head against other teams’ robots. GearCats students can drive the robot in matches, service it in the Pits, and take detailed notes on competing robots. GearCats compete at the Regional level, and if we do well enough, we can advance to the State competition, or World championship.
Build-Season Dates (Sep-Dec)
First GearCats Meeting
September 9, 2023
Meeting Dates and Location
Fridays 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Sundays 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Clague Middle School Room 145
2616 Nixon Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Competition Dates (Nov - Dec)
November 11, 2023
Forsythe Middle School
1655 Newport Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48103