History & Traditions

Over the years the team has built up many traditions and stories. Below are many of traditions we have picked up.

Team Name

In the 70’s the school’s basketball team destroyed all of the competition. Due to this the gym at Burncoat High School became known as the “Green Graveyard.” Until 2013 there was a mural in the gym containing tombstones with the names of the Worcester high schools on them. Building of of that theme, the team has gone with the name: “Green Reapers”.

Green Fence

Every year the team uses green fence (technically lattice) either for decoration or structure. This tradition started when looking for the cheapest structural material for the first robot. While walking around Home Depot the green lattice was found and used on all four sides of the robot. That year the robot became known as the “fence robot” at every event. At kickoff the next year, people kept asking the team if we were going to use it again. It can be hard for a team to become well known for something, so the fence kept. In 2007 there was a point where either the fence or two CIM motors had to be removed to save weight. The decision was to remove the CIM motors from the driveline.

Robot Name

Every robot has been named D-Fence and what ever version number it is (i.e. D-Fence v1.0). This is partially because of the lattice, and partially because it is the only name the team could agree on in 2006. Each new robot starts with a new major version number and then every major change to the robot after the first day of the first event, becomes the minor version number. More details on all the changes can be found for each robot on the history pages.

Reaper Suits

The reaper suits were originally made for the off-season competition RiverRage as our Halloween costume in 2006. Now they are part of the drive teams regular garb where they stand still during the introductions.

Building at WPI

During the last week of build season, the team packs up the robot and the tools and heads over to WPI to finish the robot. This is because it is February vacation and the school is closed for the week.

Pixar Movies

In 2008, when Pixar released Wall-E, the team started the tradition of going to the new Pixar movie every summer.

ngalottiHistory & Traditions