Team Duct Tape

Team Duct Tape is a FIRST Tech Challenge community based youth robotics team, based at the Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics Center (AMRoC) Fab Lab in Tampa.

FTC is a middle and high school level STEM education program where students work with adult mentors to design, build, and program robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The robot kit is reusable from year-to-year and is programmed using a variety of languages. Students, with the help of coaches and mentors, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition as for well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments. Students involved in our program get to:

Design, build, and program robots
Apply real-world math and science concepts
Develop problem-solving, organizational, and team-building skills
Compete and cooperate in alliances and tournaments
Earn a place in the World Championship
Qualify for over $80 million in college scholarships

Students in our community team are guided by the Curiosity Driven Learning guidelines set by founding organizers and outlined in our AMRoC Youth Robotics Program Handbook (PDF):

Our goal is to elevate character,teamwork,and academic and intellectual achievement above all else. We do not seek to win at all costs,but rather to give team members an enduring hands-on STEM experience that will serve them well into their futures. Putting character before competition has yielded a consistently high achieving team that reliably brings home trophies year after year,and is well regarded not just statewide but nationally.

About FIRST

FIRST was founded in 1989 to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. Based in Manchester, NH, the 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit public charity designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.

The goal of FIRST, as set forth by founder and inventor, Dean Kamen, is “To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.”

The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.