About Us
Our Mission Statement
“To encourage the next generation of aspiring engineers to pursue a career in STEM, as wall as build their technical expertise, leadership, teamwork, communication, and accountability by providing them with hands on experience in real-world applications”
-Circuit Bizurkers
About The Club
Dulles Robotics was founded in August 2016 by three Dulles HS students with a passion for STEM and teaching. Since then, the club has had a tremendous impact on its students, the school and the community. Composed of a group of diverse, focused, and fun-loving individuals, Dulles Robotics has become more than a club, but a family.
Every year, our club continues to grow. What started as 15 students has grown to over over 50 today. Our club consists of students from all backgrounds all joined under similar interests.
Community Impact
A huge part of FIRST is the impact a team makes on their community. We have reached out in several ways hosting library camps, demoing our robots at large STEM events, and teaching at orphanages. Beyond that, we host the FTC matches for our league and mentor other teams. We continue to promote FIRST in our school and have been featured on local television channels.
Core Values
Gracious Professionalism
The notion of gracious professionalism entails kindness, integrity, and respect. We expect our members to display gracious professionalism through their actions. By helping others in need, initiating communication with other teams, and engaging ourselves within our community, we are able to uphold the virtues of gracious professionalism.
Learning
Dulles High School Robotics was initially created with the intent to teach students only the principles of technology and programming. Due to the nature of FTC and FRC, our focus has shifted to encompass more fields of study such as business and public outreach. Although our organization has broadened its focus, we still encourage members to engage themselves with technology and programming.
Having Fun
While Circuit Bizurkers and our FTC Teams value the competitive nature of robotics competitions, we want our members to enjoy their learning experience, therefore, we open socials to every member of the organization. Hosting socials allows us to bond over the thing we love: robotics.
Our Teams
Big Red - FTC Team 12456
Founded in 2016, Big Red was Dulles Robotics’ first FTC team. Big Red has made it to the League Championship and UIL State Championship every year.
RoboVikes - FTC Team 13822
Founded in 2017, RoboVikings was added to Dulles Robotics as our second FTC team. Like Big Red, RoboVikings has successfully advanced to the League Championship and UIL State since it was founded.
Circuit Bizurkers - FRC Team 7494
Founded in 2018, Circuit Bizurkers was the last addition to Dulles Robotics. This team competes in the next level of FIRST, FRC. In its rookie year, the team advanced past Districts, past State, and competed at the international level, Worlds. This was a huge success for Dulles Robotics and gained the club a lot of attention.
Our Awards
2019 - 2020*
FTC Control Award
(Sponsored by Arm, Inc.)
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
FTC Collins Aerospace Innovate Award
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
FRC Safety Award
(Sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories) Awarded at the FiT District Channelview Event
FRC District Engineering Inspiration Award
Awarded at the FiT District Channelview Event
*Season was ended early
2018 - 2019
FRC District Championship Rookie All Star Award
Awarded at the FIRST In Texas District Championship
FRC Safety Award
(Sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories) Awarded at the FiT District Pasadena Event
FRC District Event Finalist
Awarded at the FIT District Channelview Event
FRC Rookie Inspiration Award
(Sponsored by National Instruments) Awarded at the FIT District Channelview Event
FTC Rover Ruckus Inspire Award
Awarded at the Southwest League Championship
FTC Think Award
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
FRC Rookie All Star Award
Awarded at the FiT District Pasadena Event
FTC Motivate Award
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
2017 - 2018
FTC Design Award
Awarded at the Reinbot Rodeo Competition
FTC Innovate Award
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
FTC Connect Award
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
FTC Finalist Alliance
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
FTC Inspire Award
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
FTC Winning Alliance
Awarded at the Southwest Houston League Championship
FTC Design Award
Awarded at the Texas Regional Championship
FTC Connect Award
Awarded at the Reinbot Rodeo Competition
2016 - 2017
FTC Think Award
Awarded at the West Houston League Championship
Texas UIL Team Spirit Award
Awarded for outstanding demonstration of team enthusiasm and good sportsmanship. Award at the UIL First Division State Championships.
FTC Finalist Alliance
Awarded at the San Jacinto College Qualifier
Advanced to the 2019 FRC World Championships
in Houston, TX
Departments
Build 🔨
The build team is charge of the building of our robots, both for FTC and FRC. They work against deadlines to ensure that the robot is ready for debugging, while also remaining in close communication with the Programming and Design teams to ensure the robot functions correctly and meets the original concept.
Programming 💻
The programming team is in charge of programming the instructions for what the robot is supposed to do. This includes programming the robot to respond with the intended results using a controller, as well as writing code for the robot to perform autonomously. The programmers here at Dulles Robotics use Java.
Design 📏
The Design team is responsible for designing the robot. They produce sketches and CAD renderings of the robot prototype.
Presentation 🎁
Presentation is responsible for the image of Dulles Robotics. They make the PIT displays, and other brand related content including Graphics Design, and Maintaining this Website.
Marketing 💬
The marketing team handles the team's finances and sponsorship. Their focus is to raise money for the operations and competitions.
Mentors
Brian Sonnier
Lead Mentor
Sonnier has been the club sponsor and lead mentor since the club was founded. His engineering and organizational skills help our club grow and develop member's futures around STEM.
Justin Maham
Technical Mentor
Since Fall 2019, he has brought his Mechanical Engineering skills and FIRST robotics experience to help us design and build our robot.
Shagun Ahluwalia
Non-Technical Mentor
She has been volunteering since Fall 2019 and brings her business knowledge and management consulting skills to help members enhance their organizational strategy.
Mikala Garcia
WM Mentor
As the Talent Branding Coordinator at Waste Management, Mikala helps our club have the resources we need to develop and build our robots.