The LASA Robotics competition teams participate and compete in an organization known as FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) which consists of 3000+ teams globally. Teams are given a challenge at the beginning of January and with the support of mentors will create a robot in ~6 weeks with the goal of competing with the best possible robot and advancing through the district competitions.

Students work within different student led subteams in order to create an amazing robot. Our robot is conceptualized and CADed by DESIGN team, who then passes on the plans to be manufactured and assembled by FABRICATION team. ELECTRICAL team then installs all of the electrical components, allowing SOFTWARE team to test any existing code as well as write more in order to have all intended functionalities. Year round STRATEGY team creates unique data collection software to be used during competitions. Additionally, both BUSINESS and OUTREACH teams are always working hard on fundraising, connecting with business, creating STEM programs and events promoting STEM in our community.

LASA Robotics is a large time commitment with an intensive meeting schedule both during our off season (fall) as well as our competition season (spring).

For all meetings on school days students are expected to attend office hours or go to the metal shop promptly after school. In the time between school ending and the meeting starting a light dinner will be provided and students can work on homework. Transportation is not provided and students are encouraged to carpool home from meetings, however the late bus does depart from LASA at 6:30. 

In the spring when Saturday meetings occur lunch will be provided. Students will be expected to arrange transportation for themselves. 

MEETING SCHEDULE

Mon/Wed*/Thu 5pm-8pm

Sat* 9am-4pm

*Competition season (Spring Semester) ONLY

We hopefully plan on attending four events during the spring season, two district events in March and early April, the Texas State Championship in Houston in mid April, and assuming qualification, the World Championship in Houston from 4/29 to 5/2. Most events are 1-4 nights depending on the event and whether or not your child is helping set up the pits a day earlier. All travel opportunities are highly encouraged and all absences due to travel will be excused. However, most competitions fall mainly on the weekend and students will only miss one day of school. Students carpool to events with parent volunteers and will be expected to pay dues specific to that travel event. All dues go towards hotels and meals therefore students should not need to purchase anything during the duration of competitions.

If you are interested in joining please fill out this form yourself: https://forms.gle/8cgPjaPVTpKSPzpT6 and have your parents fill out this form: https://forms.gle/ZXQBjKmYXJhxVYkG9 by 9/2. Once you have you will receive an invite to our cookie social and a link to sign up for trial days.

We ask you and your parents to fill out these forms in order to keep everyone safe during the cookie social and trial days which are hosted in the shop from 5:00 to 8:00pm, after the school day. The first hour of the meeting, from 5:00 to 6:00, will be an open house with cookies and a robot demo, the next a presentation about the team and QA session, the last a meeting for the parents while students get a shop tour and safety talk. Parents are required to attend the last hour, from 7:00 to 8:00pm, or the make up virtual parent meeting which is the Sunday after the cookie social. However, curious parents are welcome for the entirety of the cookie social. If you cannot attend either of these parent meetings please contact president@lasarobotics.org with a reason. 

As a new student, you are also required to attend the cookie social as well as at least one of the four available trial days on 9/8, 9/11, 9/15, or 9/18 if you are unable to make it to one of these meetings or the cookie social please contact us at contact@lasarobotics.org. We ask students to attend a trial meeting in order for us to get to know you and inform our decisions regarding student admittance. Please be aware that there are an extremely limited amount of spaces on the team and some of you will not be admitted, however we encourage you to apply again next year. If you want more information about what robotics does we encourage you to read through the rest of our website or reach out to us.