Middle school robotics
It started with VEX in middle school. By the end I was leading that team, and we went to the VEX World Championship twice.
What first got you building, and the moment you knew you wanted engineering
My story
class of 2027
Hi, I'm Lucas
I'm a senior at Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin, MA, in the Engineering Technology program, class of 2027.
I like building things that are slightly too hard for me when I start. The projects I stick with longest are the ones with a piece I don't know how to solve yet.
Right now that means captaining a VEX team, relaunching my school's FRC team from nothing, running the website for a NASA HUNCH project, a co-op at Dell, and a few software projects at home that got bigger than I planned.
How I got into engineering
A vocational school
Next came the Engineering Technology program at Tri-County: CAD, shop time, and certifications in precision measurement and mechatronics alongside regular classes.
Why you picked a vocational school, in your own words
Now
Six years of robotics in, I captain my high school VEX team, I'm restarting our FRC team, and I'm on a co-op with Dell's Process Development team, alternating weeks with school.
How I work
Most of my habits come from being wrong about something I was sure of.
Photo to add: your desk, printers and pegboard wall
Measure before you believe
I built a forex scanner that was supposed to call short-term moves. It looked smart. Then I backtested it: a 46% out-of-sample win rate when it needed 55.6% just to break even. Real ML models only got to about 51%. I never placed a trade. Now I try to test the thing before I get attached to it.
If it takes ten minutes to test, test it
On our FRC team, anything we can test in under ten minutes gets tested instead of argued about. A quick test settles things faster than a long debate, and nobody has to win the argument.
Ideas go on the board with no names
Another FRC rule. Once an idea is on the board, it's the team's. That way nobody defends a design just because it's theirs.
Write the spec, then prove it
For Jarvis, my home system built for six Raspberry Pi 5s (the kiosk Pi is live first), every stage starts with a written spec and every feature needs proof: a screenshot or a test that shows it working.
Outside of engineering
Four years of high school soccer, three years of indoor and outdoor track, and I lift.
Soccer and track
Four seasons of high school soccer, three of track. One line on what sports taught you that shows up in your engineering
Photography
Photo to add: one of your own photos, plus what it is, where you took it, and what camera
What else fills my free time
- Robotics
- 3D printing
- Photography
- Making videos
- Building PCs
- Electronics
- Music
- Pokémon cards
- Hunting for good deals
Volunteering with FreeKicks
Since 2024 I've volunteered with FreeKicks, a Special Olympics soccer program in Franklin, MA. We teach and play soccer with kids of all abilities.
It taught me to communicate differently, and it taught me patience and a better understanding of other people.
One specific moment from FreeKicks that stuck with you
Photo to add: a FreeKicks session shot from behind, no kids' faces
What I'm looking for
Engineering internships and co-ops. I'm already on a co-op with Dell's Process Development team, alternating weeks with school, and I want more of that: real problems, real hardware, and people who know more than I do.
Where you want to go next: the field, college plans in general terms, the kind of role after high school
Fast facts
- Name
- Lucas James Bianco
- School
- Tri-County RVTHS
- Program
- Engineering Technology
- Class of
- 2027
- GPA
- 3.95 unweighted
- Robotics
- Six years, VEX and FRC
- Co-op
- Dell, Process Development
- Sports
- Soccer, track, lifting
- Volunteers
- FreeKicks Special Olympics
- Based in
- Massachusetts
Questions people ask me
Why a vocational school?
Your actual reason in one or two sentences
How do you have time for all of this?
Part of the answer is that I built a system for it: Jarvis puts my day, deadlines and projects on a screen on my wall, so I'm not deciding what to work on every time I sit down.
The honest rest of the answer, in a sentence or two
VEX or FRC?
VEX is where I learned to design, code, and lead. FRC is bigger in every way: bigger robot, bigger team, and you have to raise the money yourself. Starting an FRC team with no robot and no budget means learning to run the team as well as build the robot.
Are you more hardware or software?
Hardware first. Robotics, CAD, and shop work come first for me. The software projects happen because I keep needing tools that don't exist yet.
What's the project you're proudest of?
Pick one and say why in two sentences
What do you want to study after high school?
Field of study, said in general terms (no college list)