Hercules High Robotics Start-Up

Hercules High School, a relatively new school in a small city, is home to the Hercules Robotics team. This is a student-run after school club with 36  members who always strive for success.  Robotics was created as a club at in the early years of Hercules High School, but died out due to a lack of support from the school’s faculty. Thankfully it was revived in 2016. This year, we refuse to let history repeat itself.

After receiving small donations at winery events and a small grant from Bio-Rad, we were able to compete for the first time at First Tech Challenge of FIRST Robotics. Though we came back from the competition thankful for the opportunity to compete and the Judge’s Award we earned, we also also felt discouraged from the monetary advantages other schools had. We wished we could buy better tools and more materials so we could compete more effectively in future competitions. Our basic hardware store drill and screwdrivers, coupled with our weak and cheap materials just didn’t cut it.  Sadly, with our current funds, it’s impossible to fix this vital issue.



Our team had also planned to teach middle schoolers the basics of building a robot, but is not able to anymore, as current funds are so low. After hours of searching, we managed to find the lowest priced kit at the price of $150 each to teach the younger generation. With your donations and support, we can buy multiple kits to expand robotics to our local middle and elementary schools. We would need at least 100 kits to do this.

If enough donations are made, we plan to start up a First Lego League team at Hercules Middle School, and First Lego League Junior teams at the three elementary schools in Hercules. We really want to be mentors to younger kids, because we personally know the struggles of never having mentors ourselves. Not only that, having students interested in robotics in elementary and middle school will insure that robotics will continue at Hercules High School.

Most of our students are aspiring engineers, and we need hands on engineering experience. We deserve to be just as ready for our desired careers as the students from more affluent schools are.

Every penny from you counts. With your help, the club will keep growing, helping to expand the love of robotics throughout our city. Who knows what these future engineers will be able to build with a strong and sturdy foundation?  The options are limitless!