19-20

SOUTH AFRICA FTC CAMP

During this past summer, our entire team flew to South Africa and taught a camp with over 30 students. In order to take on this big challenge, we developed our own curriculum for Hardware, Software, and Marketing in order to introduce the students to the basics of FTC. In order to fund our trip, we raised over $60,000 from our corporate sponsors AMD, HP, Google, and GoBilda through our non profit organization APEXAS. We used these funds in order to purchase all of the supplies the teams would need in order to sustain themselves for at least the next 3 years. It was amazing to see how students all over the world share the same passion for STEM and learning, despite the distance between us, and getting introduced to their culture was truly a life changing experience for us all.

PARTNERSHIP WITH GTCF

We are also in the process of working with a South African nonprofit organization called the Greater Tzaneen Community Foundation to establish JFLL and FLL teams in the Tzaneen Village area. Our team is advising them in the requirements for each program and we are working to establish fundraising connections to help with their expenses. These will be less expensive than an FTC, making finding sponsors somewhat easier, and expand early access to STEM in the area greatly.

MENTORING IN AUSTRALIA

We’ve mentored RoboKings 12993 through Discord. We’re very proud of them as they advanced to nationals where they won 1st Inspire and were winning alliance captain!  

MENTORING IN INDIA

We also mentored an Indian FLL team “The Galactic Titans” with the hopes of also starting an FTC team there. This team is based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India and is a part of a STEM organization. 

FIRST GIRLS IN STEM

One of our members led a group a girls at the FIRST Girls in STEM. She taught her group about both hardware and software aspects of FLL. Then, they were challenged to build a full robot in 40 minutes to complete a task. Finishing in under 25 minutes, we’re always excited to get girls involved in STEM. 

AISD BACK TO SCHOOL BASH

We set up our two FTC robots to showcase one of FIRST’s upper level competitions, and two Lego mindstorms for elementary and middle school age. Kids were able to drive around the mindstorms while we talked to parents about finding or starting FIRST teams in their school. 

MERIDIAN FLL PARENT MEETING

One of our team members kept in contact with their elementary school FLL teacher who has since moved schools, and wanted to start a robotics program at the new school. Before the season starts they were having a parent information that we went to speak at from a student perspective. 

LEEF MUDSTACLE

At the LEEF Mudstacle, we introduced students to the world of FIRST.  We set up a booth at this event for students and parents to interact with.  We designed pamphlets to give to the students so they can explain and share FIRST with their parents. 

SAMMY'S HOUSE

We introduced the concepts of FIRST and STEM to these students in a fun and creative way through STEM experiments, lego building, and FLL robots. Over the course of a couple hours we guided them through all different aspects of STEM, including physics, engineering, and coding. 

DIRECT MENTORING

We established many connections by directly mentoring 5 FLL teams and an FTC team. All these teams originate in our local area and feed students into the ViperBots school zone.  While we share our knowledge, they taught us how to teach and we in turn helped them with their design, marketing, and programming.  

Amazon

We visited Amazon’s fulfillment center in San Marcos on October 22, 2019 to see their warehouse. One of the most fascinating things they showed us was their mini army of robots they use to move ordered products around the floor. 

SILICON LABS

We visited the Silicon Labs Headquarters on November 22nd, 2019.  There, we learned about software protocols, organizational strategies, and effective marketing skills. Silicon Labs is a silicon  and software development company that helps other companies perform automated equipment tests and virtual instrumentation.

AMD

We visited the AMD headquarters and had a conference with their marketing team. We discussed different strategies for creating a more simplistic and effective appeal for our portfolios and engineering notebook. We also came up with around ten points in which we could improve our overall outreach approach in order to reach more students around the world.

NAC

Two of our members traveled to Washington DC to the National Advocacy Conference with over 200 FIRST teams and over 500 students. Learning about advocacy on the national level, the conference discussed the policies most likely to promote and expand access to STEM across the country. 

SACOT

As founder members of SACOT in 2016, we wanted to ensure advocacy continued for the future students of Texas, even though it is an off year for the Texas State Legislature. We met with a panel of professionals that discussed their take on some current issues and visions for the future.