Swampscott High School’s Team 4311 achieved its most successful championship run to date at the Massachusetts FIRST Robotics Competition State Championship, according to team captain Joseph Blood.

“We did better at the off-season event than we did at any on-season event,” Blood, a junior at Swampscott High School, said. “It’s a big milestone for us…This was the Top 30 teams in Massachusetts.”

The Massachusetts FIRST Robotics Competition State Championship was an off-season competition for the Swampscott High School team. They competed on May 30 at Merrimack College against other schools throughout the Commonwealth.

The Swampscott team did lose its first match after playing “against one of the top teams,” Blood said. During the regular season, however, the team advanced only one round in the losers bracket. This time, it advanced through two rounds.

“Our seniors didn’t do anything because this was supposed to be an underclassman way to learn more,” Blood said. “It was a great learning experience. I learned how to do just more robotics.”

Blood, Dylan Olsen and Noah Oubala drove the robot during the competition.

“Dylan did something crazy during one of his matches, so we’re having him drive for our next season,” Blood said. “He’s a really great driver.”

Sonia Neplyui also created a new team mascot that debuted at the competition. The mascot, named Volta, is a yellow eel with a black tail and the number 4311.

Team 4311 robotics team recently competed at the New England District North Shore Event in Reading. 

Swampscott’s robot finished in ninth place out of 38 teams during qualifications. The group became the captain of the seventh seeded alliance during playoffs. 

The team also finished in ninth place again during the qualification round at the Greater Boston District Event in Revere. They also became captain during this competition. 

“We were an Alliance captain every single time during our on-season,” Blood said. “We were No. 7 both times during our on-season, and then off-season we were No. 7 again.”

Blood said the team “thought it was funny” they consistently were No. 7 so the number may be incorporated into the group’s logo or robot next year.

“Three sevens is good luck,” Blood said. 

The team hasn’t decided what will happen just yet to this year’s robot, which was called the Brandy Bot. If funding is sufficient enough, Blood said the team may keep the robot for promotions to show off the group while building another model for the new season.

Swampscott will receive $40,000 for robotics equipment through state funding from the Legislature’s fiscal year 2026 Fair Share supplemental budget.