Throughout the COVID pandemic, many activities and clubs have been forced to go virtual or shut down. Storm Robotics is no exception. This year, the joint Lenape and Cherokee Robotics team completed virtual robotics challenges.

In a typical year, Storm Robotics competes in the FIRST robotics challenge. Each year, FIRST creates a new game in which robots compete to score points and win the game.

Due to the pandemic, competitions are not possible. This led FIRST to create multiple virtual challenges. Storm robotics participated in three of these at-home challenges in addition to the work the business and marketing group completed.

The Innovation challenge asked teams to find an issue and use technology to create a solution. Members of the innovation challenge group researched mental health and learned that many children and teens suffer from mental health issues but are not educated about mental health. So, they worked on designing an app that would educate children about mental health in fun and interactive ways. This app is called Otium, which was chosen because it means peace or leisure in Latin.

The Game Design challenge asked students to create a robotics competition. Storm Robotics created Storm Surge. The plot of this game is that there was a hurricane on FIRST island and the island is currently in the eye of the hurricane. Robots are tasked with helping with cleanup and collecting supplies to prepare for the oncoming storm. The game is divided into three parts and includes an optional autonomous period. This group worked on creating CAD models of the field, rules, a plot, and scoring systems for their game.

The Infinite Recharge at-home challenge is a continuation of the robotics competition from 2020. Since the 2020 season, Infinite Recharge, was cut short by the pandemic, many teams were not able to attend a competition. So FIRST gave teams a way to show off their robots from 2020. Teams could participate in multiple ways. Storm did not have access to its robot, so it competed for the judged awards. The members worked on CAD models of their robot and made modifications to the design.

The Business and Marketing team worked on branding standards for the team, which includes fonts and designs for all storm documents. They also continued to work on writing awards and created a video for Lockheed Martin E-Week.

This year, Storm Robotics persevered through challenges. Through Google Meets and computer screens, this robotics team came together and made the most out of a challenging year.