Groveland-based open robotics team, FIRST Robotics Team 8057 All Wired Up received a donation of a $45,000 Stratasys Fortus 250 3D printer this week. The 3D printer is hailed as a benchmark for entry-level 3D production systems. Students and mentors delivered the machine to their workshop. The team then continued their active build season preparing for the upcoming nationwide contest.
The students can create prototype or final components directly from their CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software. Learning Solid Works and other CAD software as well as converting from CAD to 3D printer output presents a highly valuable job skill.
These high-end, industrial-grade tools are used to design and build a fully functional FIRST robot for competition in the 2022 Rapid React competition. The teams build a robot from a fixed set of parts within a very tight and specific timeline. There is a role for every student, personality, and skill level meeting all these goals and preparing for competition.
The team is currently accepting new 8th-12th grade students. They have students from Groveland, Clermont, Minneola and Mascotte including home or charter school students. Everyone in the Lake County area is welcome!
FIRST Robotics Team 8057 All Wired Up meets Tuesday from 6:30 pm-8:30 pm at their workshop at 441 South Main Avenue, Room 205 in Groveland. There are also virtual sessions to teach Programming and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) on certain evenings. During build season, January through March, the team meets more often doing the exciting work of actually building a multi-thousand dollar competition robot.
The team is always looking for more members of the community who are willing to volunteer some time and expertise as mentors. You don’t have to have technical knowledge in programming or engineering. Interested students are also taught marketing/business skills, videography, photography, animation and other creative skills.
Find them on FaceBook at AllWiredUp.Team.8057 or contact lead mentor Mark Vitek at 352-272-5969.
Mentors Mark Vitek, Nathan Orr, Jon Salvia, Marty Proctor were on hand to help keep everyone safe and ready to continue their build season.
