
Andy Ding
- FIRST Dean's ListSemifinalist
- New England Invitational1st place Inspire Award and winning alliance captain with GNCE Diamond, at an international event
- 2026Qualified for the Massachusetts State Championship
Ten students and four coaches from Weston, MA.
We aim to promote and grow FIRST values in our community, both inside and outside of Weston. We strive to teach every member CAD and coding, and to mentor FLL teams along the way.
GNCE stands for Galactic Narwhal Chicken Effect. Mercury is one of its FIRST Tech Challenge teams, founded in Weston, Massachusetts, in 2024. At the Ryken RoboBowl we were the winning alliance's first pick, which sent us to the state championship. At the WNEU Qualifier we won the Sustain Award. Our members have competed and won awards at international events.



I started Mercury with a toolbox, a dream, and no idea how mecanum wheels worked. Three seasons later, look at us.
Special quote

I want to have the best code in all of FTC for the second year in a row.

Oh wait, it was working. I just didn't turn it on this whole time.
If it's open 24/7, it means it doesn't close.
Is the custom version cheaper?

If it moves and it isn’t supposed to move, use duct tape. If it doesn’t move and it’s supposed to move, use WD-40.

I love problem-solving, learning new skills, and connecting with others to explore what’s possible beyond our robot!

Competing at VEX Worlds showed me what a great team can do. Now I want to bring that experience to FTC.

Job finished? I don't think so.
Special quote

There’s no problem a few more hours in CAD can’t solve.

Measure twice, cut once, then discover the CAD was wrong.
If at first you don’t succeed, use a little duct tape.

Every great robot starts as a rough sketch and a lot of questions.
Rookies are part of the team from day one. Tell us what you're into, whether that's building, coding, CAD, or outreach, and we'll get back to you.
Ask about joining