Mission

Our goal is to build career STEM skills while having a blast building and competing with big robots. Team 7483 is also focused on teaching students the basics behind small business budgeting, entrepreneurship, and design as we market our team to raise money to afford to build big robots.

Mechanically Challenged is not just about building a robot! Students learn to program by writing code to interface with robots. Students also design a business plan each year to handle fundraising, advertising, and budgeting. Industrial manufacturing skills are learned through the use of small benchtop versions of large manufacturing tools.

Throughout the years, students problem-solve based on prior competitions and determine the pros and cons of different robot designs and tasks the robot can be built to perform. Prototyping and design basics are discussed and implemented through the use of 3-D printers and small-scale manufacturing. During Build Season, students work through designs discussed in the off-season, which are then determined, and then manufacture a robot to meet the specific problems presented in the year’s competition.

At competitions, students learn both how to compete and how to cooperate as teams form alliances to complete the tasks. Students learn how to scout, gather, and manipulate data to determine the most advantageous pairings to win the tournament.