Toyon Research Corporation invites local youth STEM development group, the Octobots, to demonstrate award winning robot and enjoy an ice cream social with professional engineers.
Goleta, CA, May 18, 2023 – On Wednesday, May 17, Toyon Research Corporation invited the Octobots for an afternoon of ice cream, engineering and robotic demonstrations at their Goleta headquarters.
Toyon staff and families were encouraged to drive the Octotbot’s robot named Aluminati.
Sponsored by Toyon, the Octobots are a local youth STEM group that develops a robot to compete in the yearly FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST is an international robotics competition that describes itself as “combining the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology”.
The Octobots provides high school students the opportunity to gain valuable engineering experience with the hands-on creation of a robot for competition. Students have the ability to focus on areas of engineering that inspire them, including coding, designing, wiring and assembling the unit.
As a contributing sponsor of the Octobots team, Toyon Research Corporation saw an opportunity to invite the team for an afternoon of ice cream from Rori’s Creamery and an engineering demonstration with the students. The Octobots brought their competition rig, Aluminati, for a full demo in the Toyon parking lot. Toyon staff and their families were invited to drive the robot. Students from the team and Toyon engineers were able to mingle, discuss the features of the robot and ask questions.
Octobot team members enjoy ice cream at the event. 26 student members and parent helpers visited Toyon for ice cream and robotics demonstrations.
“Toyon is an engineering and research organization with a history of more than 40 years in Goleta. We are proud to sponsor the Octobots and other STEM focused youth programs in the area.” Shared David Wright, CEO of Toyon. “Our staff and their families enjoyed the experience of meeting the Octobots, driving the rig and talking with students about their experience on the team.”
In April of this year, the Octobots participated in 4 days of competition as rookies at FIRST in Houston, Texas. Over 600 teams from all over the world competed on 8 fields, spanning a third of a mile. The Octobots made it into the playoffs for their division, placing fifth out of 77 teams in the division. The team won Highest Rookie Seed award for their division, an impressive award considering that the rookie team was up against some of the top teams in the world.
Octobot team members talk with Toyon engineer Eric Sandoz.
At the end of the term, Aluminati will be scraped for parts, and the process will begin again as students from the team prepare for the competition in 2024.
About Toyon Research Corporation: Toyon Research Corporation is a nationally recognized small business providing innovative technical solutions and defense systems analysis since 1980. With four locations and a growing team of more than 200 staff, Toyon performs advanced technical research and development to support customer needs. Toyon.com