SOTA Bots
Sep 15, 2022
Kaitlyn Keel
SOTA Bots
Kaitlyn works with the Tacoma School of the Arts where she is the lead of the Outreach Department for the Robotics Team. 
The SOTAbots are a Washington robotics team combining nontraditional High School students from The Industrial Design and Engineering Arts School (iDEA), Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA) and Tacoma Science and Math Institute (SAMi). Every year, they have six weeks to design and build a robot. They are not given a kit, just the game manual, and a size and weight requirement. They must review the game manual and determine the best way to play the game, score points and work well with other bots that will vary in capabilities. Robotics is a great way for students to get involved in their community and learn business skills that they can later apply to real life situations. To get involved with their community they serve meals to families of patients at Mary Bridge and bring one of their smaller robots into Mary Bridge for the children to play with. Each student involved in FIRST Robotics will learn and build teamwork skills, how to work under pressure, goal setting, problem solving, and how to run an efficient and successful business.