Space Coast’s Robotics Team 801 Horsepower Captures Smoky Mountain Regional Championships, Need Sponsors to Compete in World Championship

By Space Coast Daily // March 12, 2024

Call 321-417-1416 to support Robotics Team 801 Horsepower's trip to the World Championships

The Space Coast’s Robotics Team 801 rocked the Smoky Mountain Regional competition in Tennessee last weekend as they dominated the competition from start to finish, winning first place out of 33 teams, and earning a spot to compete at the World Championship, set for April 17 to 20 in Houston. Above, the Team 801 Drive Team includes, left to right, coach Robert “Doc” Ward, Ishaan Sen, Dylan Moros, Diego Dunham and Brett Stuckey. (Barb Keschner image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Space Coast’s Robotics Team 801 Horsepower rocked the Smoky Mountain Regional competition in Tennessee last weekend as they dominated the competition from start to finish, winning first place out of 33 teams, and earning a spot to compete at the World Championship, set for April 17 to 20 in Houston.

The Robotics Team 801 goal is to create a robot that the students know inside and out built from the collective efforts of each member of the team students or corporate engineers and technicians. Since its inception the Team has expanded to include members from Merritt Island High School, Edgewood Jr./Sr. High School, Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High School, and homeschool students.

Team members include Chase Atkins, Reily Atkins, Matthew Carr, Lance Chen, Diego Dunham, Cameron Gehlman, Annesha Guna, William Jennings, Josh Kirkpatrick, Dylan Moros, Eleanor Murphy, Sidharth Patsamatia, Ishaan Sen, Brett Stuckey, Alexander Siegrist, Omkar Subramaniam, Jamie Van Nooven, Ashritha Vuddharaju, Robert Ward, Nathan Weisel, Zach Willis, Mac Wyse and Ethan Yin.

“This is a tremendous achievement for these kids who are our future engineers,” said Kevin Brown of All Points and Team 801 mentor. “We all need more STEM staff and this program is all about growing that talent locally.”

The team was started during the 2001-2002 school year by a group of dedicated students and mentors. Since then they have faced many ups and downs, while continuing to perform better and better each year.

“Our team is student driven,” said Brown. “This means that the students are actively involved in every aspect of designing and building. “While we rely heavily on guidance from our corporate mentors, we believe that students learn by doing first is about a hands-on engineering experience. It’s an opportunity for students to work with professionals in a real world setting.”

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Our ‘bot has the blue “801” bumpers at the bottom of this photo. Notice it has successfully reached up and is hanging from the chain, another key scoring element of the competition this year. Note one other made it (in the back) and another did not. And note the orange ring on the pole at top!

SPONSORSHIP NEEDED

The team thanked their 2024 sponsors, W&J Construction, Delaware North, All Points Logistics, Lockheed Martin, Excell Coatings, St6 Hydro Cutting, Crest Cleaners, Alro Steel, and Brevard Public Schools and County Fire Station 43.

“Now, we need everyone’s help to raise $30,000 in the next few weeks to send the team to the World Championships, while at the same time, prepare for another regional competition starting March 21 in Orlando,” said Brown. “The team must raise all funds themselves in the next five weeks.”

Robotics Team 801 counts on our local community – current and recent sponsors and others – to help raise these funds.

If you are not a sponsor for Robotics Team 801, team members would welcome a chance to make a short presentation at your office explaining how it works and request your support for the remaining competitions and the planned multi-team robotics lab at Edgewood Jr./Sr. High.

“We all need more STEM staff – this program is all about growing that talent – help our local team compete against the best young talent in the world and prepare for STEM careers,” said Brown.

“Any amount would be appreciated, and we are happy to help fill out forms, make a short presentation, or answer questions.”

Your sponsorship would enable them to cover the costs of travel, accommodation, registration fees, and equipment, ensuring that their students can focus on what they do best: building robots and competing with the best of the best.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, visit FIRSTChampionship.org and Team801.com, or call 321-417-1416 for more information about sponsorship.

WATCH: Here’s a look at the final three minute match. In this match, “Team 801 on the bumpers,” are captain of the blue alliance teamed with two others. The object at first is to shoot the orange rings into various receptacles, with the first 20 seconds or so in completely autonomous mode. They attempt to hang from a chain at the end – which is harder than it looks because the bot has to be completely off the floor to score, so center of gravity was a big design factor. The bots are size and weight constrained as well. This is real hands on learning for our future engineers.