Welcome to the FIRST Tech Challenge

The varsity Sport for the Mind™, FTC combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources and time limits, teams of 10 students or less are challenged to raise funds, design a team "brand," hone teamwork skills and then build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors.  It’s as close to "real-world engineering" as a student can get. Volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team.

Students get to:

• Learn from professional engineers
• Build and compete with a robot they design 
• Learn and use sophisticated software and hardware
• Compete and cooperate in alliances and tournaments
• Earn a place in the World Championship
• Qualify for over $19 million in college scholarships 

News and Progress Updates

Hello Sponsors! 

Through your generosity, our income last season exceeded our expenses.

We took this as a sign that you wanted more Robotics in the community.

Looking for Outreach opportunities, we asked the High School Shop program and the Tower View Robotics Team if they would use a 3D printer if we purchased one with our funds.  Last year, the high school printed some parts for us with their outdated 3D printer.

Both accepted our offer and now we have a 3D printer that will benefit all the groups.

Our students began using the printer - our Team member found a file for a Scissor Lift and printed the parts in about 3 hours.  This enabled us to understand the concept and choose it for our final robot design

Later, the same Team member used CAD (Computer Aided Design) software to create specialized pickup blocks (green) to grasp the game piece (red item) securely.

The other Outreach effort is to encourage interest in Robotics at a younger age.  After a Day Care facility requested a demo from our Robotics Team we looked at ways to promote Robotics at that age level.  We found that FIRST sells Education kits and a Discover program for ages 4+.  

We purchased enough supplies for 16 children and delivered them to Early Childhood Academy - see photos of their students participating in the lessons and documenting their thought process!

Here's a video of our robot from last year where we witnessed First Motion of the Drive Base! Congratulations to the whole team!