We ran into Brooklyn's stalwart Megalodons from John Dewey High School on Friday, when their robot, Sharky, was running into quite a few problems. "We'll get it working," team mentor Filippo Dispenza told us. Today? It was more than working, and the Megalodons were in high spirits after scoring a few goals. Sharky's ace in the hole is a high-velocity spinner the Megalodons use to launch balls toward the opposite end of the field, though Sharky was playing close-in offense, we were told, where the spinner was scoring quick points. Team Megalodon has been a part of FIRST for 10 years, since the first NYC regional.

"Jan," the Saunders Droid Factory's robot, exemplifies that the team knows how to fight smart. The 'bot's special wheels are actually a series of rollers, which can spin as well and have Jan strafing sideways. The Droids also don't leave ball handling to chance, team VP Yssaro Camacho and driver Eden Klingenberg told us: a "current sensor" the team put together themselves is able to detect a spike in the current running through a wire along the robot's forward-facing side. That'll signal to the driver when a ball is in position to be kicked rather than rely on getting a visual. The Droids represent Saunders Trades and Technical High School in Yonkers, New York.

The industrious crew making up Viking Robotics from Vernon Township High School in New Jersey took a kitchen sink approach to robot building. "Our robot can do anything any of those robots out there do," team mentor Tony Ciaburri said of Thor, Viking's 'bot. Still, "It handles like a tank." That makes a lot of sense, as Thor squeaks by at 117 pounds, just under the 120 pound weight limit. Thor has it all, from an arm to grab poles overhead, a kicker to move balls around fast and armor up top to protect the 'bot's electricals.

Team Systemetric hails from Hills Road Sixth Form College out of Cambridge in the UK and doesn't care who knows it, walking around draped in union jacks. Despite being from across the pond, they're no stranger to the NYC regionals with a whopping nine years of team activity. Of all the teams we talked to, they had a unique quirk to their 'bot we hadn't seen: three wheels, with two in the front and one in the back. Systemetric likes to stay agile, team mentor Jeff Temple-Heald told us, and their no-frills robot turns on a dime thanks to lowerable casters that raise the rear wheel off of the ground a few millimeters, allowing the robot to pivot in place and rapidly change directions.

The Fe Maidens ("Fe" as in "iron" on the periodic table of elements — team captain Qurat-ul-ain Ali readily corrected me when I asked, "Fay Maidens?") is an all-girl team from the Bronx High School of Science in New York with four years of competitions under their collective belts. The outgoing bunch (so outgoing, in fact, that several members of the team double as their crack PR team, such as Sabina Smajlaj and Jennifer Silvestre, who fielded our questions like pros) like to stay versatile, equipping their robot with a drum that can be used to herd the ball or spin into overdrive and send it flying. They also use a powerful arm to get over obstacles. The Fe Maiden's robot is named Kelley "Beckham" Guitelman after two students, Jordan Kelley and Joshua Guitelman — the team's only male member ever — who tragically passed away last year.

The Mary Louise Academy in Jamaica Estates, New York sent to this year's regional its second all-girl (and all-new, this is their first year competing) team, TMLA Robotics. Led by coach Vinod Lala, the team has definitely felt the growing pains of being new. We were told their kicking mechanism failed mid-match, which leaves pushing as TMLA only ball-control option. Still, the trial-by-fire the competition represents is the most valuable way to learn, as teams get a feel for how to troubleshoot and repair their robot between matches. This is perhaps the most impressive part of the competition and it's all going on behind the scenes, with students hammering and tweaking their robots back into working order.

The grearheads of Montclair Robotics representing the Montclair Board of Education in New Jersey have a robot that immediately catches the eye, thanks to the rather large net it sports. Ben Hadley and Jen Filataba of the crew's build and design division told us the pneumatically-raised net was a defensive fixture, which could block goals and airborne balls. They don't use it as much in competitions as heated as the regionals, they admitted, though it doubles as protection for the 'bot's internals while it's lowered. Montclair Robotics has been participating in FIRST since 2001.

The Birds of Prey out of Hartford Public Schools in Connecticut have a lot to be proud of, being the oldest team at this year's NYC regional. The team's been active since 1997, predating even the regional's 10 years. When we asked team captain Tim Jones and Chaliza Rams, the team's driver, what set "Zippy" apart from the other robots we had seen, we were told, "A bunch of zip-ties" — used to keep the wiring nice and tidy, we imagine. Zippy fulfills an offensive roll as a kicker, and features the same special wheels as the Megalodon's Sharky, which allow Zippy to move sideways while still providing enough traction to scale obstacles. We were happy to see that Gary Hilbert, team mentor to the Birds of Prey, was sporting the multicolored beard we'd heard about. (You can't see it as well here, but trust us: it was very blue.)

Under Control is the other international team attending this year's NYC regional, hailing from the Marista Pio XII High School in Novo Hamburgo, Brazil. While FIRST may be new to Brazil — Under Control was described to us by NYC FIRST Regional Director Ana Martinez as "instrumental" in helping drum up interest in a pilot program there — Under Control is no stranger to the competition with seven years of experience. Team mechanics Mauro Santos and Victória Rotta told us they designed their robot to be lightweight and agile, making Under Control's kicker a dangerous force on the field thanks to its speed. Mauro performs a unique support position for Under Control known as the "human player" while their robot is in play, using a giant claw to scoop up balls that have been knocked out of bounds and feed them back onto the field.

The Frederick Douglass Academy in NYC's Harlem Knights described their robot to us as a mid-range contender, meaning that it occupied the center field and ran interference while trying to push balls into the score zone for teammates. Team mentor Estil Montero showed us how they get the job done: a piston-compressed spring that slams into a board at the front of the 'bot, making it more of a "smacker" instead of the traditional kicker. The Harlem Knights call their creation "Chucky Chan" — Chucky because the orange wires they used resembles the hair on the character by the same name in Rugrats, and Jacky so that their opponents will know that they kick as hard as Jackie Chan.