who we are

The goal of team xbot is to continue to enrich their students with FIRST, who are underprivileged minority students, and give them an opportunity that they wouldn't receive in the public school setting. team xbot has demonstrated significant impact on the students who participate in the program and the surrounding community in which they live.

diversity

The team also is committed to encouraging appreciation for this unique diversity. The team annually participates in parades and traditional festivals throughout Seattle -- demonstrating to children in all of these communities what potential they have to go on to make positive changes for themselves, their families and for the world around them. The Soulfest parade through Seattle's Central District and the Chinatown Parade are among the teams' favorites events, while we are also extraordinarily proud to be an esteemed guest during the annual Blacks at Microsoft events.

team xbot faces many challenges greater than building a robot or competing effectively on the playing field. Creating a sustainable program that serves underprivileged and minority youth from throughout Greater Seattle has required that we adopt unique strategies for demonstrating the effectiveness and value of the FIRST program.

Recognizing that accommodating the diversity of ethnicity and affluence in our membership was our greatest challenge, we worked to overcome the difficulties those characteristics present by leveraging them to our benefit. Many students come from homes where no English is spoken, making communicating with parents about team activities and accomplishments challenging, if not impossible. Team leaders place enormous trust in the team's students, relying on them to communicate important information to their families and to do so honestly and without reservation. The team, for its part, works diligently within these communities to share its mission and demonstrates its success with community leaders and businesses. Each year, students provide these supporters with a yearbook that chronicles our competition season.

first lego league

Locally, team xbot recruits students by presenting its robots to middle school classes throughout Seattle, at extracurricular community enrichment programs such as Technology Access Foundation, and by supporting FIRSTWA's FIRST Lego League events. In December, 2006, we were thrilled for the opportunity to hold our first FLL qualifying event and are looking forward to making the event even more exciting and more rewarding for years to come. The team demonstrated its special, omnidirectional robot chassis to middle school students at this event and, as a result, has been contacted by many team leaders wanting to get their students involved. Even in the midst of a hectic build season, we were honored to give FLL mentors and students a tour of our workshop at Microsoft Research, inviting them to join in the fun of building the larger robots.

Click here to learn more about the FIRST Lego League.

accomplishments

• 2008 Semi Finalist at the Oregon Regional
• 2007 Robothon Judges Award - "Best Display of the Show"
• 2007 Quarter Finalist in the Galileo Division World Championship
• 2007 Finalist at the Silicon Valley Regional Competition
• 2007 Silicon Valley Regional Engineering Inspirational Award
• 2007 Semi Finalist at the Pacific Northwest Regional
• 2004 Quarter Finalist at the Pacific Northwest Regional
• 2003 Quarter Finalist at the Pacific Northwest Regional