FHS Flagship 3140 suffers devastating loss
Team is asking for community support
As such, the team is asking for community support of its fundraiser to “replace our supplies before January’s build season begins and our lost storage sheds,” said Holly Barrett, the team’s co-coach.
“The fire resulted in an estimated $15,000 worth of robot-building materials, tools and supplies being destroyed,” robotics mentor Renae Feathers stated in a press release. “Many of them [were] newly purchased for the upcoming FIRST Robotics Competition build season that begins Saturday, Jan. 10.
“The sheds housed key materials essential for students to design and construct their annual competition robot,” she stated. “Lost items include aluminum extrusion, polycarbonate sheets, plywood for bumpers, gussets, fasteners, 80/20 framing and other structural components used heavily during the six-week build season.
“Storage shelves and organizational systems were also destroyed in the fire,” Feathers added.
“This is the most critical point of our year,” Barretts said. “Our students have been preparing for months, and losing this inventory right before build season severely impacts their ability to prototype, build and compete.
“We’re asking the community to help us rebuild so the students don’t lose their season,” she added.
To recover from the loss and replenish essential materials, Flagship Robotics has launched a fundraising campaign with a goal of $15,000.
Funds will be used to replace robot-building materials, field-element lumber, polycarbonate, aluminum and other resources needed for the student team to stay on track for competition,” Feathers stated.
Community members wishing to support Farragut Robotics can donate at: https://www.givebacks.com/causes/22250da9-431c-47dd-83fe-f2d10569bd3d/campaigns/1809ca949acd25
For additional information, contact Barrett at team3140@gmail.com
Barrett said the team is using a Givebacks account, instead of GoFundMe, because “The GoFundMe takes a percentage out of the funds via the credit card transaction and Givebacks does not.
“Farragut Robotics is part of the international FIRST Robotics Competition, which challenges high-school students to build industrial-quality robots, solve engineering problems and develop leadership and teamwork skills,” Feathers stated. “The program prepares students for STEM careers and fosters innovation, creativity and community involvement.”
Barretts said the lower building mainly contained wood the team used for making prototypes when investigating robotic solutions to whatever tasks its robot needs to perform.
“We also use wood to make field elements (game pieces) that our robot interacts with during a competition,” she said. “With the competition different each year, we never know what we will need to make and continue to save the larger pieces each year for that purpose.
“The upper building mainly contained our materials we make the robot(s) from, primarily aluminum extrusion (tube stock) and polycarbonate sheets, which we cut and/or bend to protect our bot or for funneling game pieces,” Barretts said. “All the polycarbonate and aluminum are now gone. The fire was hot enough that some of the aluminum actually melted and, if not melted, the heat damaged the structural integrity of the rest to the point that we can no longer use it.
“Now, aside from the cost of replacement, the companies that supply all the teams are often out of stock at this time of year, so finding the same replacements may be difficult in time to have for our build season, which starts in early January and runs through March with competitions ending in early May,” she said. “Our first competition is in the middle of March, at the Smoky Mountains Regional, so we need to have a robot
designed, built, programmed and have practice time before then.
“That’s a daunting task considering we are always building from the ground up and not allowed to use past robots,” Barretts said. “No one knows what the competition will consist of until the video release on Jan. 10.
“At that time, all teams worldwide (more than 3,700 teams) will learn at the same time and will then be racing to get a viable robot ready for competition,” she added.
“We are now trying to assess what we still have, exactly what we will need and where it is still in stock and get it ordered,” Barretts said. “The remainder of the materials, which we lost, will also be replaced, but the urgency is for what is needed for the immediate season build.
“The local FIRST community, consisting of other Knox County teams, such as Hardin Valley Academy (Rohawktics), South Doyle High School (SoKno Robo), Webb High School and Oak Ridge High School (Secret City Wildbots), have all reached out to us and may be able to help us, and we appreciate the great community that FIRST embodies — co-opertition, teams helping teams be their best,” she said.
