About

The purpose of the East Tennessee Robotics Foundation is to support extracurricular STEM education in the greater east Tennessee area. This support may include offering financial assistance, providing training to adult mentors and students to increase chances of success, and organizing events for robotics and STEM education. We are a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization (EIN 83-1734727). Any contributions to the foundation are completely tax deductible.

Examples of supported activities include:

• Lego League Boot Camp. In-depth Lego Mindstorms programming course for both mentors and students preparing to compete in the FIRST Lego League competition. Open to rookie and returning FLL teams in the Tennessee region.
• Atomic City Invitational. This is a friendly, non-sanctioned FIRST Lego League event open to all Knoxville area teams with the intention to provide networking opportunities and mutual support among teams.
• Mentoring and financial assistance to FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST Robotics (FRC) teams in the Knoxville area. These competitions are open to high school age students and offer an immersive experience being mentored by engineers and other professionals. Operated similarly to a small startup business, students are able to explore every stage of the creative process, including the conception, computer aided design, fabrication, and programming of advanced robotic systems. Students are also afforded real world experiences in public speaking, data analytics, finance and media management.
• Summer/Fall/Spring robotics day camp. Open to the public and staffed by high school robotics club students, this hands-on robotics experience allows students interested in STEM to explore career possibilities and make new friends during school breaks.