Reach out to become a future memeber or to sponsor this vital community program. Our team, the Engineers of Tomorrow, is part of the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which is an organization that encourages high school-aged students to venture out of their comfort zones and learn valuable life skills. The skills that we learn include computer-aided design & machining, electrical & mechanical engi
neering, computer programming, web design, animation, marketing, problem solving, time management, organization, and communication. It is exciting to see applications of science, math, and technology when building and programming our robot. Our team is unique because we are not affiliated with a particular school. We are made up of students from Oldham, Jefferson, Shelby, Henry, and Bullitt counties. In 2008, team 554, the only veteran FRC team in Kentucky at that time, gave us an old robot base to work with over the summer. We learned a lot as we assembled, programmed, and practiced driving it. Team 554 also loaned us their competition robot, so that we could participate as a pre-rookie team at the IRI in July that year. We benefited greatly from that experience. In November, we were awarded a $6,000 grant from NASA. NASA also had our 2009 control system shipped to us early. We tested and mounted the new system on our practice robot base and enjoyed demonstrating it on FOX 41 news, at FIRST Lego League state qualifying tournaments held at the University of Kentucky and Mt. Washington Middle School in December, and at the FLL Kentucky State Championship at Western Kentucky University in January. Our animation sub-team submitted a safety animation to FIRST in December 2008. We were among the top 6 finalists out of 85 entries. We were also among the first 50 FRC teams that season to score 100% on a safety quiz sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories Inc. and Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl. On January 3, FIRST released the 2009 Lunacy Robotics Challenge, at which time our team began designing, building, programming, and testing a robot to complete the challenge. After an intense six weeks, our robot was crated and shipped to Purdue University for a 3-day competition against a number of other robotics teams from surrounding states. We won the All-Star Rookie Award and the Safety Credits Award. This qualified us to attend the FIRST Robotics Championship which was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, April 2009! We had a great time at the Championship! Although we didn't win an award, it was an awesome experience for us to not only compete against other FRC teams from around the world, but also work in the pits adjacent to a team from Israel, interact with representatives from NASA, National Instruments, BAE Systems, and other large corporations from around the country. We look forward to sharing our robot with the community this summer, and an awesome 2011 season with FRC!
