Kansas City Robotics Foundation

Our high school robotics team needs YOUR help to get to the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP in Houston April 27-30!

The Cobalt Colts just got back from the Missouri+Kansas State competition where our team won! We’re the only Kansas FIRST Tech Challenge team to qualify for the World Championship. 5 years ago our team WON the World Championship and brought the trophy home to Kansas! Let's do it again!

Most of the 225 teams at the Championship are from well-funded schools, but we’re just an Overland Park community team and for the first time this year there is a $2,500 entrance fee we have to pay. We need your help as sponsors for this plus $9,000 in other costs to be able to participate and bring the trophy back to Kansas.

Here's a video of our previous trip to the World Championship, featuring a team dad's Robot Repair Ambulance!

What is FIRST Tech Challenge?

FIRST Tech Challenge is for teams of high schoolers interested in learning how to apply STEM to a new robotic challenge each year. This year our robot uses sensors to drive itself and score points, then is remote-controlled by two drivers to pick up game pieces and deliver them to a scoring target. Here's this year's game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e-5Uo1dRic

We also work on outreach, promotion of STEM and robotics (especially with younger kids), connection with professional engineers in our community, and engineering design process. This isn't just about building robots, it's also about building connections with our community (Hi!)!

What Will Your Help Do?

By supporting the Cobalt Colts in traveling to Houston to compete in the World Championship, you are helping to pay for robot improvements, a full robot rebuild, carbon fiber upgrades, replacement of all 16 motors, event registration, spare parts for the 3 day Houston competition, travel cases for our tools and robot parts, transportation, pit supplies, and meals. Lots and lots of meals!

What Else Do the Colts Do?

We spend the summer on Outreach:

• Designing and building wheelchair costumes for children

• Creating electric cars for handicapped kids

• Making thousands of PPE face shields (During COVID)

• Running STEM camps for “at risk” kids in Kansas City

Our robot so far this year is mostly built using parts from GoBilda (a Kansas company) and cost us around $2,300 for the season. With all these outreach and STEAM projects, we learn to grow as a team and gain meaningful individual skills: programming, CAD (Computer Aided Design), build, and of course repair!

What Do Sponsors Get?

Our sponsors can have their business logo in our competition pit (30,000 folks attend the World Championship) and prominently on our robot. Sponsors are welcome to visit our headquarters and drive our robots! Donations over $1,000 include a visit from the team to let your folks see what we’ve built and get a chance to drive the robot.

It would not be possible to deliver our high quality program without your support.

Would you be interested in sponsoring the Cobalt Colts? We would love to have you as a sponsor!

To write a check:

Payable to: Blue Valley Robotics Club

Mailing address: 12337 Horton St.

Overland Park, KS 66209

We value any support you can provide!

Sincerely,

The Cobalt Colts :)

Our high school robotics team needs YOUR help to get to the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP in Houston April 20-23!

 

The Cobalt Colts just got back from the Missouri+Kansas State competition where our team won! We’re the only Kansas FIRST Tech Challenge team to qualify for the World Championship. 3 years ago our team WON the World Championship and brought the trophy home to Kansas!

 

Most of the 160 teams at the Championship are from well-funded schools, but we’re just an  Overland Park community team and for the first time this year there is a $2,000 entrance fee we have to pay. We need your help as sponsors for this plus $8,500 in other costs to be able to participate and keep the trophy in Kansas.

 

What is FIRST Tech Challenge?

 

FIRST Tech Challenge is for teams of high schoolers interested in learning how to apply STEM to a new robotic challenge each year. This year our robot uses sensors to drive itself and score points, then is remote-controlled by two drivers to pick up balls and cubes and deliver them to a scoring target.

 

We also work on outreach, promotion of STEM and robotics (especially with younger kids), connection with professional engineers in our community, and engineering design process. This isn't just about building robots, it's also about building connections with our community!

 

What Will Your Help Do?

 

By supporting the Cobalt Colts in traveling to Houston to compete in the World Championship, you are helping to pay for robot improvements, a full robot rebuild, replacement of all 16 motors, event registration, spare parts for the 3 day Houston competition, travel cases for our tools and robot parts, transportation, pit supplies, and meals. Lots and lots of meals!

What Else Do the Colts Do?

We spend the summer on Outreach:

* Designing and building wheelchair costumes for children
* Creating electric cars for handicapped kids
* Making thousands of PPE face shields (During COVID)
* Running STEM camps for “at risk” kids in Kansas City

Our robot so far this year is mostly built using parts from GoBilda (a Kansas company) and cost us around $1,800 for the season. With all these outreach and STEAM projects, we learn to grow as a team and gain meaningful individual skills: programming, CAD (Computer Aided Design), build, and of course repair!

What Do Sponsors Get?

Our sponsors can have their business logo in our competition pit (30,000 folks attend the World Championship) and prominently on our robot. Sponsors are welcome to visit our headquarters and drive our robots! Donations over $1,000 include a visit from the team to let your folks see what we’ve built and get a chance to drive the robot.

It would not be possible to deliver our high quality program without your support.

Would you be interested in sponsoring the Cobalt Colts? We would love to have you as a sponsor!

To write a check: 
Payable to: Blue Valley Robotics Club
Mailing address: 12337 Horton St.
                                      Overland Park, KS 66209

We value any support you can provide! 

Sincerely,

The Cobalt Colts :)


A video we made about our year so far:

and many match videos are on our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNqU5yogAoxuT7VWRqlmqAA

Meet the Astromechs Robotics ! We're continuing members of one of Missouri oldest FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team. We are sponsored by the Kansas City Robotics Foundation, an all-volunteer organization that mentors and sponsors community-based robotics teams for home-schooled, public-schooled and private-school kids who otherwise would have no opportunity to do robotics. Funds we raise will be used to purchase electronics and supplies needed to build a robot to compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge competition this season. We are an IRS-recognized public charity. Won't you please help us create some future engineers!?

You can make a difference in the access to hands-on STEM education opportunities for kids by donating today to the Kansas City Robotics Foundation’s FIRST Tech Challenge team, The Kinetic Kois! This community-based team does not have the resources that many school-based teams have and they need your help in buying the parts and tools necessary to compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition this season.

The Kinetic Kois were established in 2023 in Overland Park, Kansas. Within the comforts of a basement, we explore our passion for robotics and design.

Bringing various high school students together, we work together to better our community, engage in STEM activities, and compete with reverent sportsmanship.