CAMDENTON, Mo. — Batters Not Included, an eight-member FIRST Tech Challenge team of homeschoolers around Lake of the Ozarks, is heading to the state championships in March.
The 8th-12th graders design and construct a unique robot each year to meet the game challenges, programming it with JavaScript. Batteries Not Included (Team #18063) recently won first in the Inspire Award category at the League Tournament competition.
Their mission statement makes the award no surprise: "Together, we build more than robots—we build a stronger team, stronger solutions, and a stronger future."
While they narrowly lost in the finals, the team still qualified to go to state and compete in the Missouri/Kansas Championship in Rolla.
High school team member Brianna explains, “My favorite part of robotics is getting to talk to other teams at competitions. It’s always so fun to see familiar faces and catch up with other robotics people!”
Regarding competitions, Lilly says, “I’m excited about going to states because it’s exciting to see how this team has evolved and improved since we started. Even if we don’t win at states, this has been our best year yet and I’m thrilled!”
“Not only has it given us a fundamental understanding of the engineering and programming world, it also helps us build skills such as teamwork and cooperation, communication and public speaking, organization and planning, business skills, time management, budgeting, writing and artistic design, how to effectively reach and change a community, and so much more," Lilly wrote in a group statement.
The team further explained, “Through FIRST robotics, we have learned how to be a competitor in a competitive world while still maintaining an attitude of love and professionalism with everyone we encounter.”
One of the team’s goals this year is an outreach called the 18063 Project (named after the team number), where they spread the knowledge of the FIRST community to 18,063 people. They also want to help people by participating in programs like Operation Christmas Child.
Batteries Not Included was in several local parades, hosted events in the library, started a YouTube channel geared towards giving advice to rookie FTC teams, and helped form two FLL teams as well as mentoring one new FTC team as part of their outreach. They exceeded their goal, and to date, they have been able to reach roughly 18,300 people.
Team member Sadie explains, “My favorite part about robotics is going to outreach events and getting to tell people about FTC.”
The homeschool team's eight members include Lilly, Sadie, Eliza, Brianna, Aven, Peyton, Isaac, and Cale. If you are interested in starting a FIRST robotics team or are looking for more information, contact the team through email at 5batteriesnotincluded@gmail.com. They will be happy to answer any questions.
