About Team 190
FRC 190 is a robotics team located in Worcester, Massachusetts and funded by Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Jabil Healthcare.
On this website you can learn all about our team’s history, philosophy, quirky traditions and much more.
Team Structure
The team is lead by Colleen Shaver, WPI’s Robotics Resource Center Director and Dee Wilhelm, the RRC Assistant Director.
Staff and industry mentors who support the team include Cam Wilhelm, Nick Greeley, and Amanda Bessette. Additionally, a rotating group of college mentors support the team while also learning valuable lessons in engineering project management from our industry leaders.
Our high school student participations primarily hail from the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science. However, the team welcomes participants from outside the Mass Academy. The goal of this is to help bring robotics to more students in our local community who may not have access. We particularly appreciate freshman/sophomores who want to join the team for multiple years. We are also seeking partnerships with groups like African Community Education (ACE) to support their students.
Our Facilities
Team 190 operates out of a fully equipped shop on the located at 15 Sagamore Rd on the WPI campus. Our shop has a lathe, mill, a horizontal and a vertical band saw, a drill press, CNC router, and HAAS VF4, and powder-coating oven. Our 3D printing area includes a Markforged Mark II, Formlabs resin printer, and multiple Bambu printers.
In addition to the machine shop and team work space, FRC 190 has a Community Practice Field, supported by our sponsors (WPI, Jabil, and Bolt Depot) along with NE FIRST. This field is open for any team to come and practice on high fidelity game elements.
We also have a Community Parts Exchange at the practice field. Teams can donate parts they no longer need or use, and other teams can take them at no cost. Our team serves as a hub, monitoring requests from other teams and filling them whenever possible.
At 15 Sagamore, the team is joined by other WPI clubs, include Formula SAE, High Powered Rocketry, VEXU, and Combat Robotics. The building also houses advanced faculty labs of WPI researchers.
How to Join
Team 190 is always looking for new members. The team is primarily composed of students from Mass Academy, which is a two-year high school at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. We also welcome other students without access to a FIRST team. If you are a high schooler eligible and interested in joining the team email the Robotics Resource Center (first@wpi.edu) and request to be added to the mailing list.
Who is eligible to join as a High School Student?
- Current attendees of Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at WPI
- Home-school students (ages 14-18) in the local area
- Students from a Worcester County high school that does not offer FRC
If you are above high school age and interested in joining as a mentor, email first@wpi.edu for more information.
Team Culture
WHAT IS CRUD?
Crud is a game that was developed by the American and Canadian Air Forces. It is a competitive team sport played on a billiards table using the cue ball and a striped ball, typically the fifteen. Before the game, two captains are selected and they pick teams. The primary objective of the game is to keep the fifteen moving by striking it with cue ball. Each player begins with three lives, and they lose a life if they are responsible for letting the ball stop. A player is eliminated when they lose all their lives, and a team is eliminated when all of its players have been eliminated.
Team 190 began playing Crud when Ken Stafford joined the team in 1999. Today, much team spirit comes from Crud. One of new team members’ first experiences is being Crudified, or receiving a Crud name. These names consist of two syllables, are often amusing, and have a connection with the member’s personality, appearance, or behavior. Once or twice a year, team members have the opportunity to order Crud shirts, which have the member’s Crud name and year of Crudification on the back. The team makes it a point to play each Saturday during build season at Captain Samuel Eddy’s Crud Emporium, also known as CSECE, or in the WPI Campus Center.
WHO IS GOMPEI?
In 1891, the sophomore class gifted a black goat to WPI. A Japanese student, Gompei Kuwada, was elected to take care of the goat because his initials, G. K., also stood for Goat Keeper. Overtime, the animal became very difficult to maintain, and the goat was eventually beheaded and its head was mounted. The actual Goat’s Head, also known as Gompei’s Head, was eventually replaced with a bronze replica for preservation.
Starting with the Class of 1928, a competition between the freshman and sophomore classes was organized. The classes could earn points through events, such as sports and the tech carnival, and the Goat’s Head was present to the class with the most points. Once a year, the winning class was obliged to show the head publicly to allow the other class to steal it back. Some of the notable “showings” include hanging the head from a helicopter during a football game and dropping the head from a bridge into a moving convertible. The competition was canceled for some time because of its violent nature; however, it has resumed recently with a new set of rules.
In 1998, FIRST decided that team names and numbers would carry over from year to year. It was at this time Team 190 decided to include “Gompei” in its name.