MECO is made up of middle and high school students, college mentors, and adult volunteers. We focus on teaching and applying problem solving skills, STEM, and promoting collaboration. MECO engages students by having them design, prototype, and create a new robot for each yearly FIRST Robotics Competition based on specific game challenges created by FIRST. Students also run the business of a robotics team: fundraising, marketing, community service, and outreach.
We are partnered with United Global Outreach, an organization focused on transforming neglected and underprivileged communities. UGO’s goal is to meet a community’s educational, physical, spiritual, and emotional needs in order to release unlimited potential and possibilities for students and adults alike.
One of the ways that United Global Outreach is working on giving a hand-up to underprivileged communities is with the creation of Orange County Academy. OCA is a K-12 private school that serves the East Orlando community of Bithlo, Florida. OCA offers an education to students regardless of their ability to pay.
MECO Robotics and Orange County Academy are working together to bring FIRST Robotics programs to the school. In addition to our FRC team, we created an FLL team, MECOBits, to get younger students involved in STEM too. They competed at their first-ever competition in January 2024.
Watch the video below for the
PINK Team 233 vs. MECO Robotics
demolition derby style competition!
This is a video of our 2020 robot, Sprocket, playing a rough game with the PINK team (team #233) during Roboticon 2021. FRC games are not generally as violent as Battle Bots, but sometimes things do get a little crazy. Sprocket ended up with a broken arm after this game.