regional ftc 'decode' kick off event

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Over 60 students and mentors joined our team for the reveal of this year's challenge "Decode".  In addition to the global webcast, all teams attended break out sessions and field survey throughout the day.  The session ended with all team presenting their initial strategies and thoughts on how to tackle this year's competition.  Attending teams included:

8133    Our Lady of the Lakes - Bionic Sailors

8531    Guardian Angel School - GA Bot

20252   Holy Family Regional School - Wilcat Bots

23579   Holy Family - Holy Family Panthers

31722   Peace Lutheran School - PantherBots (Rookie Year)

The MechaMavs have the honor to invite all teams to the unveiling of the 2025-2026 FIRST FTC Challenge:  Decoding.  Join us for a day of fun, and collaboration; bring your robots from last season if you can, and let's explore together this season's new competition field, facilitated by FIRST Robotics.

10:00 am - Registered Teams Arrive - Doors open

10:15 am - Challenge Activities

10:35 am - General Team Strategies for Catholic (or Independent) Schools

11:00 am - Breakout Sessions

11:30 am - Lunch Break

12:00 pm - FIRST FTC Game Reveal!

12:45 pm - Game Field Reveal

1:00 pm - Understanding and Discussion of Game Rules

1:30 pm - Team Strategy

2:30 pm - Team Strategy Discussion

3:00 pm - End of Kick-off Event

Three MechaMav team members attended summer engineering camps at Michigan universities over the summer.  They explored different engineering disciplines ranging from mechanical/chemical/electrical engineering, biomechanics, environmental, and civil engineering.  All three attended lectures and lab courses while staying in residence halls for the week.  Gabby W. and Hailey C. attended Michigan State, while Quinn S. attended Michigan Tech.

Further information regarding both programs can be found through the following links:

Michigan State Engineering Summer Camps:  K-12 Students - Women in Engineering | College of Engineering | Michigan State University 

Michigan Technological University Summer Youth Program:  Summer Youth Programs | Michigan Tech 

Seven MechaMav team members took time out of their busy schedules to complete a nine-week Cybersecurity challenge sponsored by the SAE Foundation.  They learned the inner workings of the internet and how cybersecurity protects information as it passes from the sender to the receiver.  Three separate teams presented their solutions to a team of judges with one team crowned as champions.   

The team presented the challenge to executives from many automotive companies and suppliers as part of their annual SAE Foundation gala held the second week of May.  This event raised over $300,000 to support SAE International’s award-winning A World In Motion® PreK-12 STEM education program, Collegiate Design Series™ (CDS), awards and SAE scholarships.  

Further information regarding the SAE Foundation and ways to contribute can be found at  Inspire Aha! STEM Experiences for All Students | SAE Foundation 

The AU Foundation (Awesome and Unique Special Needs Foundation) sponsored an Easter Egg Hunt with crafts, games, face painting, photo booth, and a special visit by the Easter Bunny for the North Oakland County community.  Our team helped run the games, set-up the hunt and cleaned up at the end of the event.  Fun was had by all.....

For further information regarding upcoming events and donation opportunities, please contact the AU foundation at the following site:  Non-profit | Awesome And Unique Special Needs Foundation (ausnf) | Michigan 

Don Watza, owner of High Quality Truck parts met with both MechaMav FTC and FLL teams to brainstorm new uses for their exhaust flex pipe material.  Typically used to help direct exhaust gasses with flexible routing options for custom applications.  

Brainstorming ideas included similar non-truck applications like farms equipment, high capacity drain systems for industrial kitchens, and even craft opportunities.

Further information regarding FlexaTube products can be found on their website:  HQ Truck Parts - HQ TRUCK PARTS 

Oxford's FRC team 2137 welcomed our team to join their middle school teams 5291 TOWR, 11231 Cyborg Cats, 14739 Metal Benders, and 23805 EleKtra Kats for a review of the Reefscape competition.  We all participated in a great day of prototyping, getting familiar with the game and rules, and driving on the new field.  

For further information regarding team 2137 RoboCats please review their website: 

https://team2137.com/

The Mecha Mavs helped serve over 50 people during a recent community meals program at Lake Orion United Methodist Church.  The team packaged 30+ premade meals for delivery to home bound seniors, served 50+ people, and cleaned the hall after the meal.  The Lake Orion United Methodist church provides family style community meals and fellowship every Monday evening.  

More information and donation links can be found at Community Meals - United Methodist Church of Lake Orion.

Helping others in this holiday season, our team sponsored a canned food drive to help support Thanksgiving food requests, partnering with Grace Centers of Hope and the Lake Orion Lions Club.  In a little over two weeks were able to collect over 540 canned items to help those in need.

FANUC decided to invite use to their headquarters to learn more about what they do and how they do it we saw many different kinds of robots like painting robots wielding robots sorting robots and even a robot that could lift a car

We presented science experiments to families at our annual perish picnic. We did experiments representing chemical reactions, density, atmospheric pressure, and conductivity. Approximately 300 people attend the event throughout the afternoon.

The SAE Foundation supports SAE International’s award-winning A World In Motion® PreK-12 STEM education program, Collegiate Design Series™ (CDS), awards and SAE scholarships.  St. Josephs Robotics team presented SAE's jetcar toy and pinball demonstrator to executives from Honda, General Motors, Ford, and automotive suppliers.  This event raised over $325,000 for STEM programs and scientific outreach for schools.

We were honored to attend Team 2137 Robocats week zero event to learn more about their team and facilities. Additional FRC teams (5053 Lakers, 7211 Hollywood, 3175 Knight Vision, 2145 HAZMATS) along with the Robocats practiced their solutions to the Crescendo season theme.

The Mechamavs presented robotics to new and prospective students with the addition of a robotics exposition during the St. Joseph Church and School open house.  Approximately 100 attendees observed both FTC and FLL competition games and spoke with both teams to learn about our programs.  They also had the opportunity to drive two robots under the guidance of our drive team.