Team History
The Bearbotics FRC #4068 Story
The Bearbotics robotics team (FIRST FRC team #4068) serves high-school students in the Lewis-Palmer School District in Monument, Colorado. It began when students Clark Pappas and Emily Ferdette proposed to the LPSD School Board in 2011 that a team be formed to participate in this top-tier STEM program, with all its opportunities for challenge, achievement and inspiration. We just finished our "lucky 13th" year of activity. Here's an overview of the continuing journey of the team and its accomplishments. And our thanks to the coaches, mentors, sponsors and parents who make this possible!
Top: FRC team at Utah Regional
Mid: 4068 ends Quals at Utah ranked #1
Bottom: FRC receives "Excellence in Engineering" Award at Utah
2024: "Crescendo"
Overall 95 students (our most ever) actively participate in the Bearbotics program, including 1 FRC, 3 FTC and 6 FLL Challenge teams! We are proud to achieve many new first-evers and high points for the team, as they indicate the qualify of learning in the program. Here are some of the FRC #4068 highlights:
We build 2 full competition robots this year, as part of a new student skill-development strategy (one was robot #9998, which ranked #3 at Kendrick Castillo Memorial Tournament in October)
Incorporate a new CNC Router and CNC Laser/Engraver into our fabrication and prototyping processes
Design & build our comp robot in 5 weeks!
Finish with Qualification rank #1 at Utah! Lead the #1 Alliance in the Playoffs! Enter the Colorado Regional as 1st-ranked team! (All are first-evers for Bearbotics. Note: to help inspire other teams, we finished in last place at the 2018 Colorado Regional; yes -- you can improve!)
Win "Excellence in Engineering" Award for the 2nd time
Top: the FRC robot (4068) "shooting" a Note game object, at the 2024 Utah Regional
Bottom: the FRC robot with Shooter fully elevated for the AMP shot
Top: FRC team at Colorado Regional
Mid: FRC team at Utah Regional
Bottom: FRC receives "Excellence in Engineering" award
2023: "Charged Up!"
Overall 55 students (our most ever), including 1 FRC, 3 FTC and 2 (new) FLL Challenge teams! We are proud to achieve many new first-evers and high points for the team, as they indicate the qualify of learning in the program. Here are some of the FRC highlights:
Innovative Engineering Analysis Report on "Improving Efficiency of FRC Robot Electrical Systems" we published to the FRC Community
Utah Regional
Win "Industrial Design" engineering award for the first time
Student Keira Griffin wins "Dean's List Finalist" award (first time for Bearbotics)
Lead Alliance #4 in the Playoffs (our 2nd time as Alliance Captain); finish as Semi-Finalists
Colorado Regional
Win "Excellence in Engineering" award for the first time
We're the scoring leaders on Alliance #3 and get to the Finals; finish as FINALISTS
Extend our Semifinals-or-better streak to 8 events
Top: the FRC robot (4068) in action at Colorado Regional
Mid: iso view of the FRC robot
Bottom: transparent CAD view of the FRC robot
Top: all-team pic (FRC + FTC)
Mid: Finalist Alliance Captains at Arizona North
Bottom: at Colorado
2022: "Rapid React"
Overall 41 students (our 2nd largest team ever up until this time), including 3 new FTC teams we started to help rookies build skills more quickly. We set a new high of 26 rookie students! We set many new all-time highs and firsts in robot performance, and submitted a Chairman's Award document and video for the first time ever.
We finished our season as the #3 ranked team in Colorado, and in the Top 6% of teams in the World
Accomplishments:
(1) Arizona North
Captain of Alliance #3 (first time ever in this role)
Reach Finals and finish as FINALISTS
Set event high score (1st time ever)
(2) Colorado
#2 ranked most of Friday qualifications (new high ranking for the team)
Set event high score
First pick of Alliance #3 and make it to Semi-Finals (for the 5th event in a row of Semi-Finals or better)
Game Description Robot Description
Top: robot overview before Colorado
Mid: Upper Hub shots @ AZN
Bottom: Traversal hang with 1619 @ Colorado
Due to COVID19 restrictions, we don't have a team picture for 2021
2021: "Infinite Recharge at Home"
Even with COVID19 restrictions all season, we put in a full year. We significantly upgrade our 2020 robot and use it for this year's "virtual" competition, and design and start the build of a new improved robot. We welcome our largest rookie class ever up until this time (19), and develop new ways to help our team of 39 learn and grow.
Competitions: (1) "Carbon" (international) group
Accomplishments:
3rd in Group (missing 2nd by just 0.07%)
1st in robot autonomous ("AutoNav"), 2nd in human-driving ("Hyperdrive") and 3rd in target scoring ("Accuracy" + "Power Port")
Ranked in top 10% of Colorado, USA and World
2020: "Infinite Recharge"
We're now at 45 students (our largest team ever up until this time), with the goal of competing with the top teams in Colorado. We build our best-scoring robot ever, which is 100% CAD-designed and CNC-fabricated, using more motors and a wider range of materials than ever before. But this is the first year of COVID19, and immediately after the Utah tournament everything is cancelled....
Regionals: (1) Utah, (2) Colorado (cancelled)
Accomplishments:
(1) Utah: semi-finalist; first-ever team qualification to lead a play-off alliance!
2019: "Destination: Deep Space"
More team growth and a new strategy: let's take robot engineering and competitive performance to the next level. We build a tall, fast, tough, controllable robot -- and other teams take notice.
Events: (1) Colorado, (2) Utah and (3) Houston World Championship
Accomplishments:
(1) Colorado: CHAMPIONSHIP!
(2) Utah: RUNNERS-UP (aka "FINALIST")
(3) Participate in World Champs for the 1st time! Achieve a winning record (6-4) against top teams!
2018: "FIRST Power Up"
The team continues to grow, and creates a versatile "utility player" robot that can score in the end-game challenge.
Regional: (1) Colorado
Accomplishment: selected to participate in playoff rounds again!
2017: "FIRST Steamworks"
A challenging season in many respects, but the seeds are planted for a different path in upcoming years. And check out the great team graphics!
Regional: (1) Colorado
2016: "FIRST Stronghold"
The team continues to develop its skills in robot offensive capability (scoring). The result is the highest robot performance ranking in the first 5 years of Bearbotics!
Regional: (1) Colorado
Accomplishment: selected to participate in playoff rounds again!
2015: "Recycle Rush"
This game was a tough challenge requiring a large robot, and Bearbotics stepped up to the challenge.
Regional: (1) Colorado
Accomplishment: selected to participate in playoff rounds (for the 1st time for Bearbotics)!
2014: "Aerial Assist"
We changed the team name to "Bearbotics", and moved the workspace to Grace Best ES. The team grew and continued to take on more technical challenge in the robot design and build.
Regional: (1) Colorado
2013: "Ultimate Ascent"
This was another "learning year", but the team progressed. Robot design and construction applied techniques learned from the 2012 competition.
Regional: (1) Colorado
2012: "Rebound Rumble"
We started out as "Aperture Robotics" (referencing the video game "Portal"). This was a "learning year" with a lot of team spirit. We finished building the robot on the Thursday of the event -- but it ran!
Regional: (1) Colorado
Award: Rookie Inspiration
