Spreading stem

Spreading STEM and robotics globally through education, community service, and mentoring other teams.

About

Let us introduce ourselves.

FTC Team

FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC) is one of the levels from the FIRST® robotics program. Students design, build, program, fundraise, and drive robots for competitions. Teams then compete head on in tournaments that advance all the way to a global final. We are proud to be an FTC Team.

Educators

A mission of FIRST is to spread STEM to people everywhere. Our team fulfills this through our outreach. We have presented at exhibitions, assisted at other schools, run events, and more. During our off-season, we plan to continue to spread FIRST.

Learners

Through the FTC program, we get a hands-on experience with programming, building, designing, teamwork, and so much more. This is a unique opportunity specific to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) which helps foster youth to have a better understanding of STEM jobs, with the intent to help them go into this ever-expanding field.

Awards

2018-2019 Season Achievements

The Mechanical Monkeys were honored to have advanced to the FIRST World Championships. These are the awards we have received in this 2017-2018 season. We are working hard for our next qualifier for 2018 - 2019 season

  • Control Award at Jackson Qualifier
  • Inspire Award at Oxford Qualifier 2018
  • Control Award finalist at Oxford Qualifier
  • Connect Award at Jackson Qualifier
  • Innovate Award at Oxford Qualifier 2018
  • Motivate Award finalist at Oxford Qualifier
  • Finalist at Jackson Qualifier 2018
  • Control Award at Jackson Qualifier
  • Project

    Experience our work.

    Our Robot

    The Builders

    The Programmers

    The Drivers

    Outreach

    Digital Technologist

    Journey

    From the drawing board to the competition.

    • September 8

      The Kickoff

      Our team participated at the first Bloomfield Hills High School FTC Kickoff. The day before, many of our team members helped set-up the event. Here, we took classes and demonstrated our robot to other teams. As a team, we watched this year's game challenge Rover Ruckus. Immediately, we started strategizing and discussing the game.

    • September 9- October 7

      Designing and Building

      In the meetings that followed, we continued to strategize and then design. Everyone contributed ideas which led to a prototyping session. Finally, we started to build our robot with input from our our mentors. All builders were assigned a different part of the robot to build.

    • October 7- November 10

      Programming and Testing

      Our programming team worked with the build team to test out the robot. After the building was completed, and the programming was ready for the drivers. As the drivers tested the robot, they found little things they wanted to adjust to make driving easier for them. The programmers then adjusted the programs accordingly.

    • November 11

      The Jackson Qualifier

      This year, At the Jackson Qualifer, we were the finalist alliance and won Control Award.

    • November 12- December 7

      Improvements

      Our team discussed what we saw at the Jackson Competition. After a team meeting, we decided to build hanging mechanism on the side.

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    Local Outreach

    Spreading STEM and FIRST® with our local community.

    Centro de San José, Detroit

    Bloomfield Hills Middle School FTC Camp

    Grace Center of Hope, Pontiac, MI

    NASEI Youth Technology Exhibition

    Conant Elementary, "Hour of STEM" Event

    Valiant TMS

    Crossroads Sunday Soup Kitchen

    Metro Parent Summer Camp Event

    Hazel Park Junior High STEM Night

    Conant Elementary, "Hour of STEM" Event

    Global Outreach

    Spreading STEM and FIRST® with no borders.

    No. 10 High School, Hangzhou, China

    Gandhinagar, India

    Netherlands and Germany

    Our Members

    Meet the team.

    Om

    Sr. Programmer/Builder/Driver

    Sebastian

    Builder

    Miller

    Builder

    Neel

    Marketer/Fundraiser

    Michael

    Builder/Programmer

    Eli

    Marketer

    Julius

    Builder

    Stefan

    Builder

    Aidan

    Builder

    We have a diverse group of teammates with varying interests, but we all have the same mission; to spread STEM and FIRST.

    Cost

    Learn about why we need to fundraise.

    While FTC is a really great opportunity to learn, the cost to build a robot can add up very quickly. Components for the robot include motors, sensors, C-Channels, servos, and much, much more. A set of 4 inch Mechanum Wheels costs $199.00. The Rev Robotics Expansion hub is $175.00. Motors and servos cost about $30.00 each, and there are already eight on the robot. The rest of the cost includes competition registration fees, marketing materials, food, and more. The average team will spend $7000+ in one season. That's why we need your help so we can journey forward in our mission to spread and learn STEM.

    Thank you to our sponsors!


    NEED HELP WITH PROGRAMMING, PARTS, DESIGN or PRESENTATION

    Send us a message!