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Upcoming Activity:
What: LEGO Mindstorm Camp
When: July 14-24; 8:45am - 12:00pm
Where: Shannon Elementary
Why: Student Mentoring!
Be there!
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Home
We are Rockwall Robotics Team 1296, the Full Metal Jackets. We attended our first regional competition in Chicago in 2004, where we were awarded the Rookie Inspiration Award as well as the Autodesk Visualization Award. We participated in the Lone Star Regional in Houston in 2005, winning the Team Spirit Award, and we returned to Houston again in 2006 and 2007. This year, due to some scheduling conflicts, we will be attending the Denver Regional, where we will actually be one of the veteran teams by comparison.
Last year we experienced a phenomonal period of growth and internal improvement, a "building" year of sorts, due in large part to our partnership with a primary corporate sponsor, Special Products and Mfg.(SPM). They provided a wellspring of expertise, design and production capabilities, steadfast commitment and unconditional generosity that allowed us to build a very good robot. Sadly however, we were affected by several electrical problems in Houston that prevented us from competing as effectively as we had wanted. Then again, as Thomas Edison often said, with every mistake made, new possibilities present themselves.
The 2007 off-season has been a great success. After some community and school outreach programs, we acquired an inspiring number of new recruits to the team, both young and old, and with them came a restless excitement. By channeling this excitement into meaningful and fun projects over the late summer and fall off-season, we were able to build our skills and make our presence more fully known to our school. Our t-shirt cannon had the audiences cheering at home football games. We invaded local restaurants for Rockwall Robotics Fundraising Nights on a regular basis. Our trash can robot interviewed our principal and was broadcast across the school. Build season, here we come!
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The season is over, the dust is settling and we couldn't be more excited about the upcoming year! The last few months have been among the very best in the history of our team and things are only looking up. We are expanding in membership, success and community outreach year after year. The summer will only make us stronger!
