Meet #TeamREV member, FTC Team #16484: ROBOCANES! Located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this team has an exciting CENTERSTAGE season recap to share with our community.

Tell us a little bit about your team’s background.

The ROBOCANES have been competing in the FIRST Tech Challenge since 2019 and are based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Our team consists of 10 members in 7th and 8th grade. 

Something that makes us unique is that we are one of the few middle school teams, and the only Catholic middle school competing in FTC's South Florida League. 

The team voted and agreed to name our robot “Boris IV” in keeping with ROBOCANES tradition.

What are a few achievements your team was proud of this season?

• Awards: During the South Florida League, the ROBOCANES received the 1st Place Connect Award and 3rd Place Motivate Award. At the Florida Championship, we received 3rd Place Think Award.
• Programming: Programming encoders and sensors during autonomous.
• Building: Added distance sensors.
• CAD: This season was the first time that the team was able to create a robot design using CAD (OnShape). Thanks to our 2 mentors from Peru!
• Service: We donated half of the proceeds of our Krispy Kreme fundraiser to Code/Art which will provide 2 summer camp scholarships to girls this year. We also connected with Amy, the Code/Art CEO & Co-Founder, to plan on how we can collaborate more and start a Code/Art club at our school.
• Outreach: Increased our number of mentors, connected with more STEM professionals and FTC teams, and  developed our first YouTube page to engage and reach more audiences.
• We were honored to attend the 2023 FIRST Inspire Gala to serve as ambassadors for the FIRST Tech Challenge program. The event was held on December 6th, in Miami Beach, Florida, and was co- hosted by Dean Kamen and will.i.am - i.am/Angel Foundation.
• Even though the FTC season has ended, the ROBOCANES haven't stopped our outreach activities! We participated in a STREAM day at our school. We were able to demonstrate our robot to almost 500 students, share the season's highlights, and explain what FIRST is about. We are also brainstorming on how to expand our outreach activities for next season.

What is your team enjoying within the #TeamREV Sponsorship Program?

We loved to meet and collaborate with other TeamREV teams!

Way to represent FTC and STEM in South Florida, ROBOCANES! Follow the team on these platforms:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• X (Twitter)
• TikTok