History
In October of 2006 the first meeting of Apple Pi Robotics took place. Al Bishop, who is related to a student at the Guilford High School, went to one of his grandson's robotics competition in New Hampshire. Upon experiencing the competition and the atmosphere it created he knew he had to bring FIRST Robotics to Guilford. He got another couple whose son attends Guilford High School interested in starting a team and they approached the Metal Shop teacher at the high school, Mr. Schaefer. Together over the next few days they sorted out the details necessary to understand in order to start a team. Fliers and announcements were made; the first meeting was a success. The group changed drastically over the course of the next few meetings; the people who attended changed and interest peeked.
The team's first project that showed their ability to work as a team was the Savage Soccer VEX Challenge. It was indeed a challenge, as many had never worked with VEX, or any sort of robotics, prior to joining the club. The team entered two robots into the competition, though neither robot ranked well, the experience was something that proved vital. Soon after the competition, the team's first build season for the FRC Competition began.
During the build season the team grew to appreciate engineering and designing. For the next six weeks the team successfully completed a FRC robot and entered it into the Hartford Regional. Though, again, the team did not rank well in the actual competition, they were grateful and ecstatic about receiving the Rookie All Star Award.
This award proved to be the team's ticket to the Nationals in Atlanta, GA. The team placed 26th out of 86 teams in their division. Elated, and with much more experience, the team returned home to begin planning and fundraising for the next season.