January 16, 2026
Over the past three weeks, Waring’s three FTC teams—Lykos, Lupine Robotics, and Wolfpack Machina—have each competed in qualifying tournaments in pursuit of a coveted slot at the Massachusetts State Championship. Spoiler alert: all three teams succeeded! This March, Waring will be represented by all three FTC teams at the MA FTC State Championship on Sunday, March 15, at Wentworth Institute of Technology—a remarkable achievement that speaks not only to engineering excellence, but to long-term planning, teamwork, communication, and the many broader life-skills cultivated by Waring’s liberal arts program.
Planning Ahead, Paying Off: Lykos Makes a Statement
For Lykos, Waring’s youngest FTC team, their first official competition could hardly have gone better. At their debut event in late December, Lykos finished as Winning Alliance Captain, fielded the top-qualifying robot, captured the Control Award for excellence in programming, and secured their place at States. As of the event, Lykos stood as the top-ranked FTC team in Massachusetts, with a world ranking inside the top 100—an extraordinary result for a team made up entirely of first- and second-year FTC students.
According to FTC Coach and SET Chair Francis Schaeffer, much of Lykos’s success came down to discipline and foresight—skills that Waring students have been practicing across the curriculum and beyond robotics. The team spent the summer building foundational skills through camps and targeted projects, including development of a custom pathing system. They followed a carefully designed season calendar: a complete robot by November 1, a full test at the November 15 Waring FTC scrimmage, and a rebuilt, upgraded version finished by December 1—leaving crucial time for coding and refinement.
“One of the biggest factors in their success was planning ahead and sticking to a development schedule,” Francis noted, crediting team captains Arlo Kinsey (‘28) and Finn Panall (‘28), along with team mentor, Richmond Obeng, for countless hours of work in and out of school.
As a footnote to Lykos’ success: today, with all other competing Massachusetts teams bidding in the qualifier, Lykos sits in the state’s 2nd pace ranking and 133rd in the world, a tremendous spot to be in post-state qualifier.
Waring’s varsity team, Wolfpack Machina, followed in early January with a qualifier that showcased both competitive strength and program depth. Wolfpack earned the highest number of advancement points at their tournament, securing the top advancement slot to States.
On the field, Wolfpack won all its qualifying matches, entered eliminations as the second seed, and advanced to the finals—where they faced Laser Robotics, a team Wolfpack helped launch three years ago. Earlier in the day, the two teams had even set (briefly!) a Massachusetts scoring record together as randomly paired alliance partners.
But it was in judging that Wolfpack truly distinguished itself. After a day of sustained, in-depth pit interviews, the team was awarded the Inspire Award, the highest honor in FTC—recognizing excellence across all seven judged categories, from robot design to outreach and sustainability.
Wolfpack’s work includes elementary robotics classes, public library programs, mentoring younger teams, running FIRST events, summer camps, and meticulous documentation of design and code—work that draws as much on communication, reflection, and leadership as it does on technical expertise. In FTC, judged awards reward teams that can explain why they made their choices, not just what they built—an expectation that aligns naturally with a liberal arts education that emphasizes a clear articulation of perspective, purpose and the why. “I really love winning the Inspire Award because it recognizes all the work done by the entire team across the entire season,” Francis reflected. “It shines a warm light on everything—from building a great chassis to sitting on a cold library floor teaching a fourth grader how to code.”
That spirit did not go unnoticed. Francis shared that a coach from another team later approached him to praise Wolfpack students for their kindness and technical help under pressure. “Even when they were sleep-deprived and under real stress, our students rose to the occasion,” he said. “I felt real pride.”
For Lupine, the path to States was a testament to long-term vision. After a strong 2024–25 season, the team recognized that success at the highest levels of FTC requires not just robot performance, but excellence in judged awards. As a result, Lupine began planning for the 2025–26 season as early as May, mapping out outreach, documentation, and sustainability work nearly a year in advance.
That strategy paid off at their January qualifier at Andover High School. Despite encountering electrical issues on competition day, Lupine impressed every judging panel and ultimately earned the Inspire Award, securing their place at the State Championship and showing once again that Waring’s success in robotics grows out of the education of the whole student—one shaped by a liberal arts program that values foresight, reflection, and sustained commitment over quick fixes. Lupine also showed real teamwork and big picture thinking in a difficult, complex situation. After each match they worked hard to figure out the source of their mysterious technical issue but generally only had a few minutes to work on it. It was a roller coaster ride; Lupine emerged from each match knowing that they needed to fix the robot, but then needed to spend almost all the intervening time between matches articulately and patiently explaining every aspect of their work to the judges. Their poise and comfort conversing with adults was on full display as was their mature sense that despite their desire to fix the robot, their best chance of advancing was spending time presenting their work to the judges.
“Winning awards in FTC takes significant advance planning and long-term work,” Francis explained. “This was exactly the scenario Lupine had prepared for—and it made all the difference.”
Taken together, the success of Lykos, Lupine, and Wolfpack reflects more than competitive achievement. It highlights a robotics program rooted in a broader liberal arts ethos involving teamwork, mentorship, outreach, and collaboration—where students learn that engineering excellence goes hand in hand with communication skills, the ability to present ideas publicly, problem-solving as a team, and collaboration within a larger community.
As all three teams turn their attention to March and the MA FTC State Championship, they do so not only as competitors, but as ambassadors for Waring and its unique liberal arts program where skills across all disciplines are just as important as building a successful robot.
Waring Robotics will be well represented at States—and we can’t wait to see what comes next.
