I would like to introduce you to 1209 Robotics, The RoboHornets. The 1209 RoboHornets is a Booker T. Washington-based robotics team in Tulsa Oklahoma. We are a Tulsa Public Schools-sanctioned non-profit organization that is committed to supporting youth involvement in STEM.
Team 1209 was founded in 2002 as a way to increase involvement in STEM at a school that offers no shop classes. As a veteran team, 1209 has worked diligently to spread the values of FIRST to its members, Booker T., and the community.
We strive to immerse our students in the design process, engineering, programming, cooperation, and leadership. We have a group of teenagers who lead our organization with the support of our mentors and staff, teaching them valuable skills. Our students learn how to take initiative in leadership, run a business, manage financing, communicate with others, fundraise, and work together as a team.
If you’re on the team, you need to go register here: STIMS Registration. Thank you!
This year’s FRC game reveal:
2024 Oklahoma Regional Finalists
At the Oklahoma Regional in Oklahoma City, OK, we finished rank 13. We were second pick for Alliance 2, and went to the playoffs with 1561 Roboducks and 935 RaileRobotics. We made it to the finals and finished as Regional Finalists. Watch our matches here.
At the Green Country Regional in Tulsa, OK, we finished rank 10 and became Alliance 8 captain. We went to playoffs with 9410 PowerHouse and 1819 The Quacken. Watch our matches here.
2023 Oklahoma Regional Finalists
In 2023, we finished qualification matches rank 5 at the Oklahoma Regional in Shawnee, OK. Team 1209 became Alliance 4 captain, and went to playoffs with 3931 The Cockadoodle Dominators and 3247 The Robopack. We made it to the finals, but lost to Alliance 1. Watch our Oklahoma Regional Charged Up matches here.
At the Green Country Regional, we finished rank 19. Watch our matches here.
Team Management and Organization
Throughout the year, the RoboHornets are led by the school sponsor. This person is responsible for the student’s safety and adherence to school rules and regulations. The next people in line are the mentors and the officers. They are responsible for the team and their productivity and performance.
The year is divided into three parts: off-season, build season, and competitions. The off-season runs from May to December, the build season is in January and February, and competitions occur in March and April.
Team leadership positions are elected by students every year. Our team operates with two presidents, one focusing on the robot, and the other on the management of non-robot-related activities. Our positions include:
- Robot President – oversees robot subteams
- Nobot President – oversees “nobot” subteams
- Safety Captain – maintains lab organization and safety
- Secretary – maintains team records and attendance
Robot subteams are focused on the technical aspects of the robot. Leaders are appointed to the subteams through an interview process, where students apply to the role with a cover letter and resume. Subteam leaders train our rookies during the off-season. Robot subteams include:
- Chassis and mechanisms
- Electronics
- Programming
“Nobot” subteams manage elements of our team not related to the robot. This ensures that we not only build a robot but also manage our finances and media presence. Nobot subteams include:
- Awards – manages elements of the Impact and Woodie Flowers awards.
- Marketing – maintains the funding of the team and our sponsor list, applies to grants, maintains robot part wishlist, and writes sponsor letters and thank yous.
- Media – manages our social media, updates our website, designs our t-shirts, and posters for display in school and pits.
- Spirit and scouting – create giveaways for the competition, informational documents to hand out at the competition, and manage pit and stand scouting information.
During competitions, the RoboHornets organize themselves into a drive team, a pit crew, and a scouting team.
- Drive team – drives and operates the robot during competitions.
- Pit crew – responsible for repairing or changing the robot after a match and speaking with judges and other teams that come to our pit.
- Scouting – observes other teams both on the field and in the pits, to formulate a strategy and provide information regarding the effectiveness of other teams.
Our Members
We surveyed the members of Team 1209 and asked what was memorable about being a part of FIRST and how it has helped them. Here are some of our favorite responses:
- “I’ve participated in FIRST robotics since 3rd grade and the experience has truly changed my life. Without FIRST I never would have been interested in STEM. Growing up, I didn’t see many females in STEM around me and thus didn’t ever picture myself perusing STEM in my future. FIRST changed my perspective entirely and in turn, changed the course of my future since I now plan on perusing mechanical engineering and robotics in the future.” – Genevieve Daboval, President, Class of 2022
- “It’s fun, we get to do stuff like build robots, communicate with others, and more. I personally enjoy seeing something of our own creation moving, and knowing that it was fully through our effort that it is moving. The people are also cool, they are all committed to working together to accomplish the same goal, and through that process the team grows closer together.” – Paul Galiasso, Class of 2022
- “I like FIRST because it provides an environment where I can learn about a field that I am incredibly interested in. Every year I look forward to planning, prototyping, building, testing, and refining the robot alongside my friends. The feeling of finally solving a problem that you and your teammates have been working on together for hours is unparalleled.” – Brooklyn Jennings, Class of 2023
- “I’ve always had an interest in engineering, but I’ve never known just how much there was to learn until joining robotics. FIRST has inspired and allowed me to explore the fields I’m interested in more in-depth.” – Sophie Latham, Project Manager, Class of 2022
- “FIRST Robotics has allowed me to experience what it’s like to be in a team with a specific goal in STEM to create a robot with the intentions of learning how to change the world for the better. I admire Computer Science and FRC has allowed me to understand how Computer Science could be used in conjunction with real world applications.” -Patrick Harrington, Class of 2023
