Octobots Robotics Houston Championship Competition

Over the past eight weeks, this high school robotics team has changed how many students think of STEM. The once useless knowledge school provided us now helps us create a robot that we proudly show off. To continue inspiring students the way that we have been, we need your help.

We are a rookie team, meaning this is our first year of existing and competing at FRC competitions. Our team is a free program run through FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition), providing students in high school with a very hands-on approach to the STEM field. These options include learning valuable engineering skills. Volunteer mentors and student leaders train other students to design, code, and machine a robot from scratch.

However, being a non-profit organization means that Octobots Robotics needs funding to continue providing these opportunities to teenagers. We successfully fundraised $30,000 within five months before our build season, which prepared us well to register for the team's regional competitions and the costs of building the robot. After eight weeks of hard work, the team created a competitive robot. We have come a long way, starting with zero funds in August 2022.

We just finished the Ventura Regional competition (last weekend), where our robot placed fourth overall out of forty-six teams (several were overseas), and was the runner-up in the playoffs. This was very unexpected and impressive to the FRC judges as a rookie team. Through the impressiveness of our performance, the team was awarded the Rookie All-Star award and the wild card slot. Along with this, we are also the number-one rookie team in the world, by a large margin. All of this meant we were invited to attend the prestigious FIRST Championship competition, essentially unheard of for a rookie team. The competition is located in Houston, Texas, with 800 other teams invited worldwide. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. While there, we will compete with other top-level robots to see who is the best in the world.

To make that possible, we need your help. As this opportunity was unexpected, the costs were also. To cover the cost of this event, our fundraising goal is $30,000, which includes the registration cost, airfares for our students and volunteer mentors, hotel rooms, and other transportation. The competition is from April 18th-22nd.

Micheal Ramsey,

Head Mentor

Ocotobots Robotics

Team 9084