About Us
My name is Andrew, and I am 14 years old. I have designed this site to tell
others about us, our robotics teams, FIRST, and to share some fun
and useful resources.
I enjoy programming computers, designing web pages, manipulating
photos in Adobe Photoshop, and competing in FIRST and VEX robotics
competitions.
My younger brother, David, has been a part of our robotics teams. His
research and documentation skills have been a great asset to our
team. He loves
animals and wants to work with them when he is older.
My mom really likes robotics. She and Dad both have Engineering degrees. She thinks kids get to experience what it is like to be an engineer by participating in FLL and VEX. But robotics is really more than just engineering, it is problem solving, learning to think creatively, and team work. I think kids can learn things much earlier than they are often given the opportunity. Robotics competitions give kids a chance to do ‘real’ work, and solve ‘real’ problems. I like to think of life skills as tools in a tool box. Learning in school gives kids tools for their tool box. Robotics gives them the opportunity to pull them out and use them. I believe this will inspire kids to become our technology leaders of tomorrow. Robotics gives kids ‘real world’ problem solving experience. Participants have to work with limited resources, a compressed schedule, and have a plan for when things go wrong. At the competition, even though there are a lot of distractions, you have to make sure you and all your things are in the right place at the right time.
I still remember the first time I ever heard of FIRST robotics. Several years ago, it was fall of 2001, our family went to the Maryland State Fair. At the fair that year, several FIRST high school robotics teams were competing (see pictures). It held my attention for hours! Two years later, we were at the fair again, and so were the robots! This time they let my brother and me control them. They also told us about FIRST Lego League. We were still too young for it. But we didn't forget... A few years later we learned of a FLL team in our area, and we joined in 2006. Our team, TechBrick, went to the competition at the University of Maryland in January 2007, winning the Team Spirit award. We had so much fun!
It was about the same time that my father took a new job, which relocated us to Roanoke, Virginia, where we now live. The most difficult part of moving for me was leaving our FLL team behind. Since we didn't know of another FLL team in Roanoke, we started our own.
Our first team was called RoboForce. We won the 2nd Place Overall Champion's Award, the 2nd Place Robot Performance Award, and advanced to the State Championship. At State, we won the Judges award. Our second team in Virginia, RoboRubiks, also did well. We went to the State Championship, and won the Judges award. In 2009, we formed our third team, which won the 1st Place Overall Champion's Award for Division 2 and the 2nd Place Robot Performance Award. This team advanced to state as well. Pictures of all three teams can be viewed by clicking the Pictures link.
In March of 2010, we competed at a VEX Robotics Competition for the first time. We won the Excellence Award, which is the highest award in VEX Robotics. In winning this award, we qualified to compete at the World Championship.
If you would like more information, check out VEX's and FIRST's website, look at movies on YouTube by searching for FIRST LEGO League or VEX, or contact us.
We are available to do robot demonstrations for your school or group. We'd also be happy to offer guidance to new teams. If you'd like we could even hold a training session for you.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our site and to learn more about us. We hope to see you at an upcoming robotics competition!