UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Team Origin
Our First Robotics Competition season was 2006. At the first meeting in late 2005, there were a total of six kids and three adult mentors for an FRC team. By kickoff 2006, the team had grown to ten kids, from four different schools around Orlando, FL.
Our Founding Mentors:
Wendy Austin – NEMO (now the Orlando Regional Director)
Michael Colman – Electrical/FIRST (FTC)
Kelly Austin – Media
Jennifer Coleman – NEMO/FIRST
Doug Leppard – Technical Lead
Sarah Plemmons – NEMO/FIRST (Now the Orlando Regional ???)
Dan Richardson – Mechanical (Alumni of Shark Attack 744) (MC, children now participating in FIRST LEGO League Jr)
Mike Walker – Programming (Alumni of Voltage 386)
George Wallace – Strategy/ Driving (Alumni of SPAM 180) (Mentor with SPAM and MC)
Robby Wallace – Mechanical
Ryan Leitch – NEMO (Volunteer with Orlando Regional)
Our main challenge has always been to find a permanent build space. We have moved almost every year, from building in mentor’s garages, barns, unoccupied buildings, Lockheed Martin and 3D Perception. For the 2015 Season we decided to lease our own space, which was made possible through intense fundraising and concise money management.
Another challenge is the copious amounts of requests we receive to attend events with the robot. To meet the high demand, we created a new program called Spark, an international outreach initiative to send kits filled with common household items to areas with little to no resources. While Spark Beta has been successful, more development and funding is required in order to make the biggest boom.
History of our Pursuit of a Build Space
- 2006-07: Dan’s & Austin’s Garages in same neighborhood
- 2008: 4-H Barn
- 2009: Grajales’ House
- 2010: Coleman Warehouse
- 2011: Lockheed Martin space in main building
- 2012: Lockheed Martin space in portable
- 2013: Research park build space – 3-D Perception sponsored
- 2014: Mentors’ Brendan & Ryan’s house
- 2015: Bacon Bunker: leased industrial park space
- Jan 1 2016-July 31, 2020: Bacon Build Space, leased industrial park space