Talon Robotics dives deep into new season

Excitement ran high as Eden Prairie’s Talon Robotics Team 2502 gathered earlier this month to witness the highly anticipated new FIRST Robotics Competition game reveal and kick off the competitive season.

Bright and early on Saturday, Jan. 4, Eden Prairie High School’s (EPHS) South Commons was filled with a busy mix of new and veteran team members, alumni, mentors, and family members. After going over rules, best practices, and sponsorships (including a Krispy Kreme fundraiser running until Jan. 28), it was time for the big moment: the game reveal.

Along with thousands of students and team mentors in 30 countries around the world, the Talon team saw the game field and challenge details for the first time on the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff broadcast.

The new season challenge is called REEFSCAPE. In the game, two alliances of three teams each compete to earn points by harvesting algae, seeding coral on their reef, and returning to their barge to ascend to the ocean’s surface. Alliances earn additional rewards for meeting specific scoring thresholds and for cooperating with their opponents. Watch a brief video explaining the game on YouTube.

The reveal was met with fist pumps and cheers in the EPHS South Commons, as team members began to absorb the rules, objectives, and specific challenges they would need to tackle.

Timothy Moore, a junior and team engineering captain, said, “This is the most complex game I’ve ever seen, and my brother was on the team in 2013 so I’ve basically seen every game since then.”

How it works

Under the guidance of adult mentors, teams will have about two months to design, build, program, and test their robots before competing in one of more than 185 global regional and district three-day competitions. Talon Robotics’ upcoming competitions are the Rocket City Regional, March 12-15, at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and the Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional, March 26-29, at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds’ Warner Coliseum.

When asked what he considered the most fun part about the process, Moore said, “Today, it’s just seeing the game, getting excited, thinking of all of the different ideas, then focusing it down.”

He said the team will work to determine the optimal setup to earn the maximum points, then design a prototype, ideally by the second weekend in February. The team also needs to build a course, which will be set up in the South Commons for time trials with their robot.

Riley LaMotte, a senior and engineering captain whose primary role is design, said the key will be choosing a strategy that optimizes results without being overly ambitious

“Teams that try to do everything will do nothing,” he said. “We’ll probably rank tasks based on difficulty, and then look at how many points you get for each one and compare those.”

Paul O’Connell, a senior and electrical lead, added, “We do a lot of cost analysis: What’s the trade-off for going with this element, rather than the other one?” He added that the biggest challenge was probably going to be getting the coral onto the reef pegs, especially since they all had different angles and heights. “It’s hard to get them there and maintain that much precision.”

However, LaMotte said, “If we’re really good at design and really clever we should be able to do it well.”

Another challenge for the drive team is visibility, as a massive structure sits in the middle of the field, along with another one directly in front of them. Moore said, “Visibility is always a problem when you’re driving the robot, so we rely on things like LEDs and cameras to give the driver information.”

Moore noted that, in addition to the robot performing precisely, team members would need to accurately throw balls of “algae” into a goal. “What is it with them trying to make these human players athletic? Last year they made us throw rings onto posts, and this year you have to shoot it into this goal,” he said, amid laughter.

Noting that they’re previously discussed recruiting basketball players to their team for the sports-related portion of the task, LaMotte admitted, “Audiences love it.”

Training a new generation of students

More than 92,000 students on more than 3,700 teams globally are expected to participate in this year’s FIRST Robotics program. Minnesota has 181 teams this year, one of the highest in the country, thanks in large part to financial support provided by The Medtronic Foundation.

Eden Prairie’s team, Talon Robotics 2502, was started in 2007 by five EPHS students who wanted to be on a robotics team. Now, the team includes about 50 students with various roles and levels of involvement. The team has open room hours after school and on weekends, with mentors available to help students.

Talon Robotics is always looking for new members to explore various roles on the team, including design, programming, building, driving, scouting, and business. The team is also actively encouraging more girls to join and conducts inclusivity and outreach efforts, such as a free summer Girls Who Code camp through EPIC.

Mentors play an invaluable role in the program both in teaching, sharing expertise, and for safety reasons, since machinery is used. Many have been involved with the program for years, whether because they work in related careers, have children in the program, or are themselves alumni.

Eric Schaeffer is a software engineer who is a longtime team mentor and grandfather of Andy Killorin, a 2024 EPHS graduate currently studying robotics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Schaeffer said one of the team’s biggest challenges is maintaining legacy. “We have some really tremendous students in design and programming, but what happens when they graduate?” Schaeffer said. “So we’re looking to grow and get the next set of students to pick up and learn those skills.”

John Schmidt, another longtime mentor who serves as the team’s scouting and strategy lead, noted innovation is also a priority for the team. Last year, Talon was the only FIRST Robotics team in the world to use RUST as its programming language. “We are definitely on the cutting edge there,” he said, explaining that while RUST gives performance advantages to the robot, using RUST requires a lot of training.

Adopting RUST was driven largely by Killorin, who was present at the kickoff, and current senior Nolan Peterson, who together spent more than 400 hours last year developing the capability, Schmidt said. “Now this year, Nolan’s got to take on the mantle and pass it on to the next students,” he added.

Schaeffer said that in the past, the most skilled and experienced students have done the programming while the others watched and learned. However this year a conscious effort is being made to give less experienced students increased responsibility and hands-on involvement.

This fall, the team conducted “mini trials” for the first time – a one-day informal tournament where three teams of underclass students designed, built, and programmed their own robots under the guidance of upperclass students and mentors. “That gave them more skills,” Schaeffer said, adding, “Some of the girls did tremendously in learning the program and programming the robot using this language.”

LaMotte said, “We think students got a lot out of that, which will help us. The more they learn about how to put the robot together, the easier it is in season. And you know, they still made mistakes, but that’s part of learning.” He added, “We’ve been getting better at encountering all of our problems before the tournaments – and that’s the way we want it.”

O’Connell, who plans to study mechanical engineering in college next fall, said one of his favorite aspects of FIRST Robotics is that teams start from scratch with few limitations on the build. Teams receive a Kickoff Kit, which includes motors, batteries, control system components, construction materials, and various automation components, but they have creative license from there.

“They kind of limit your hardware, but pretty much the sky’s the limit,” he said. “You can do whatever you want. My favorite part is the manufacturing process of taking metal and making it into a shape. We rivet and bolt it together, then build up the actual shape. I like getting the actual functionality to work.”

He added, “My job on the team right now is electrical as well. So I manage all the wires, the electrical components, and making sure the robot turns on.”

“And never turns off,” LaMotte said.

Sponsorship and business development

While robots are the main event on Talon Robotics, there are also other key roles. A student business team, led by sophomore Charlotte Shivery and junior Vonnie Duong, oversees multiple sub-teams that handle administrative details, sponsorship, and fundraising.

Sponsorship is vital, as each robot can cost upwards of $10,000, and tournament travel expenses also need to be paid. Some sponsors donate funding, while others give materials. Any community members or businesses interested in sponsorship can reach out to captains@team2502.com.

The team also runs fundraisers, including a current one selling Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts. Medha Ganjam, the team’s communications lead, said members will drive to Nebraska to get the doughnuts, as they are not available in Minnesota. “We are taking orders until Jan. 28, and people can come pick up the doughnuts at the high school on Feb. 12,” she said. Doughnuts will cost $15 per dozen and can be ordered by scanning the QR code on the image below or through a Google form.

Duong encouraged other students to consider joining Talon Robotics, citing the emphasis on learning how to problem solve and the strong community. “This is a space where high school students can cultivate skills that you can use in the workforce and other areas,” she said.

“But it’s also a safe space with your friends to be comfortable, to make mistakes, to learn from them. It’s also just a fun after school activity and a great way to spend your time. I’ve met my best friends here, and at the end, we’re all going to be alumni of this massive program.”