Have you ever built a robot?

When we first tell people what we do on a day-to-day basis they generally look at us incredulously and say "You build what?!" Yes. We build robots. Not the small sit-on-your-table robots, but the large run-over-your-neighbors-pet robots.

More surprising? We are not your average robot-builders, if those exist. We are high-school students by day. Its only once school is over and the night draws close that we are milling arms, wiring encoders, and building 120lb beasts of metal and gears.

What do we do with these metallic monsters?

We compete with them. Every January, we are given a rule manual, a game animation, and six weeks to design and build a robot from scratch. No instructions, few parts, little directions, and barely enough time to create the next great game-playing bot. 

We compete in a competition called the First Robotics Competition sponsored by FIRST Robotics. It was started by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, portable insulin pump, and a pretty sweet robotics designer himself. Over 100,000 students participate each year and thousands of teams compete against each other all over the world.

Here is an example of one of the games that we played in 2011 in New Orleans at the Bayou Regional. This is the last match of the regional - and coincidentally the game in which we clenched the Regional Title against 40 other teams. We are the robot that starts at the bottom right of your screen.

What do we do when we are done competing?

Its not enough to just compete with our robots. We also believe that giving back to our community is extremely important. We work to find innovative and exciting ways to bring robotics to everyone around us. We demonstrate what science, technology, engineering, and mathematics can do to change the lives of children, teenagers, and adults. This past year, we went on a four school tour, taking our two previous robots and allowing kids and teachers alike the chance to drive the robot and learn what it took to build it. By backing this project, you are not only supporting competitiveness in our own students but also demonstrating to others how they can be successful.

Why do we need funding?

While we wished that robots grew on trees, they sadly do not. We need funds to build two robots: a practice robot and a competition robot. The practice bot allows us to practice after we bag up the competition robot at the end of the six week build season. It also allows us to test all of the different ideas that flow through our heads. Our competition robot is what we take with us to all of our demonstrations, competitions, and events. Both of these robots take advanced parts, machining, and other processes in order to function successfully and take out the competition.

This is where you come in. As a backer of this project, you are providing us the ability to design and build an amazing robot. You are also giving us the opportunity to etch your name on it. Our goal is to have a plate of etched aluminum filled with the names of our backers to show to the thousands of people who will see our bot compete. For one backer, we even offer the chance to name the robot.

Take a look at the various levels of backing and the thanks that we provide. Together we can design a robot that can win.

Want to Know More?

Here is another video of our 2011 Bayou Regional Winning Robot, Dunker, and from WAFB News in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.