Beginnings (1999-2006)
FRC Team 303: Vulgen’s Heroes was created in 1999 as a partnership between Bihler of America, the Midland school and Pingry Academy. After the first season, Pingry decided to not participate in the following season so the Bridgewater-Raritan High School took their place. Throughout the next several years, the Midland-BRHS-Bihler partnership was incredibly successful. The BRHS and Midland students had the opportunity to work along side real engineers to solve the fun challenge that FIRST created every year, and then Bihler engineers enjoyed the challenge of building the robot with the very tight deadlines. After the second season, the team also changed its name from Vulgen’s Heroes to Panther Robotics (the panther being the mascot of BRHS). Throughout this time period, it was not uncommon for Team 303 to take home event banners from competitions.
Relocation (2007)
After the successful first several seasons for the team, Bihler unfortunately came to the point where they could no longer allow their facilities to be used by the team. This was massively problematic to the team since their workspace, mentors, and funding all came from Bihler. The team went searching for a new sponsor to replace Bihler, but unfortunately, due to the search and other reasons, Midland decided to leave the team also. Team 303 was now exclusively part of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School. As the 2007 season approached, things began to look up; while the team did not have one big sponsor to replace Bihler, many smaller donations were starting to fill the gap, but the team was still in desperate need of a build site. After looking at classrooms, students’ garages, and other solutions, Pressure Tube Manufacturing (PTM), stepped in, and allowed Panther Robotics use of its facilities.
303 Renaissance (2008 – 2010)
With their new-found stability, team 303 went through an era of massive growth and development. They continued working to give back to the community, like they had done with the Midland run, in new ways such as raking leaves and shoveling snow for the elderly and creating an engineering program for fourth/fifth graders to attend after school. The team also started an off-season event called the Bridgewater-Raritan Battle Royale or BR2 that occurred every year in late May and was usually attended by around thirty teams. The team also started several green initiatives such as recycling metal scraps and cans, collecting old cell phones and electronics, and cleaning up its high school. These activities both benefited the team and the community. The growth of the team culminated with its successful 2010 season, in which it made waves in both the New Jersey and Connecticut Regionals by making it into semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively, and running a strategy booth to help every team maximize their scouting information.
A New Era (2011)
At the end of 2011, team 303 became homeless once more when, after an ownership change, PTM decided that they could no longer provide a workspace for the team. Fortunately, the team quickly found a temporary workspace at STS Tire & Auto Center that would give them a place to work during the build season. That temporary workspace turned into a strong partnership and a permanent home for the team that the still build in to this day. 2011 was a huge year for the team; it won both the New Jersey and Philadelphia Regionals and made it into eliminations at the World Championship. The summer that followed that season, the team formed the Student Leadership Council (SLC). The creation of the SLC was a huge milestone that marked a large transition of power from the mentors/advisors to the students
Testing… (2012 – Present)
The team’s transformation was complete when in 2012, they decided that neither the red/black color scheme nor the panther mascot were very unique and went through a big image change. Panther Robotics became The T.E.S.T. Team with a unique teal color and festive test pattern logo. T.E.S.T. stands for Technologists, Engineers, Students, and Teachers, the major groups that make up the team. The change was a massive success that lead to the team winning an Imagery award at their second competition of the season. 2013 was even better, with the team becoming one of the top teams in the region. Team 303 qualified for the World Championship, then ended up being the captain of the alliance that went on to win the entire division. The team had another monumental year in 2014, not only winning the Chairman’s award for the first time ever at a district event, but they won it again at the regional championship, beating teams who have been winning it consistently for years. The future only looks good for The T.E.S.T. team, they recently acquired a major new sponsor that will bring their robots to the next level by adding metal fabrication to the team’s tool kit. But, no matter what happens in the future, the team has shown its ability to conquer any challenge and be a source of inspiration in its school, community, and world.