ABOUT

Steel Phoenix Robotics is a team located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Founded in 2002, we compete in two programs: FIRST and VEX Competitions, both of which are the largest worldwide robotics organizations that includes hundreds of thousands of students. Our robotics program engages students in exciting mentor-based programs that build STEM skills and foster well-rounded life capabilities such as proactive communication and leadership.

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TEAM ORGANIZATION

• 2 teacher coaches

• 1 engineering mentor

• 30+ members

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LEGACY

• Winning Judges Award at the Global Robotics World Championship

• Qualifying to the USA Robotics National Championship 22x

• Qualifying to the Global Robotics World Championship 6x

• Winning Tournament Champion, awarded to the top alliance in ranking 13x

• Winning Tournament Finalist, awarded to teams ranking in finals 6x

• Winning the Excellence Award, awarded to the best all-around team 5x

• Winning the Robot Skills Award, awarded to the best robot 2x

• Winning a cohort of skill-based awards (i.e. Design, Build, etc.) 20x

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HISTORY

Steel Phoenix Robotics, founded in 2002,  has grown from one of the smallest programs in the country to one of the largest ones in the Las Vegas valley. The team began with just 4 students self-funding the program and has since grown into a widely successful team that has reached more than 50 members and has qualified to international competitions almost every year.

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FRC Team 988 was founded with the help of NASA. They wanted to expand FIRST in the Clark County School District to improve technical skills in Las Vegas. Clark was included in this initial expansion program and is one of the oldest active FRC teams in the state.

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Our VEX team continues to be a student led organization, similar to our FRC program. From the very beginning, VEX celebrated early success, reaching the World Tournament twice in its first four years. In total the team qualified to 6 World Championships and received numerous awards.

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BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES

Our students apply skills gained from FIRST and VEX to other practical projects, including using large machinery, drill presses, miter saws, band saws. Apart from honing our skills with tools, we have built a mobile, remote-controlled, high-speed T-shirt cannon for public relations. We also reached out to elementary and middle schools in our area to offer teaching about any aspect of robotics. 

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• Compete and collaborate in robotic competitions

• Work with and teach members engineering processes

• Learn to adeptly and safely handle professional hardware and software

• Gain experience in working with multiple coding softwares

• Be involved in community outreach to promote and advocate STEM

• Cultivate skills such as teamwork, creative thinking, problem solving, group management, public speaking skills, team presentation skills, and budgeting

• Members are eligible for over 200 scholarships

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COMMUNITY IMPACT

Steel Phoenix has participated in four events to help educate the community about STEM education. The first event was the Robotic Revolution at the Henderson Pavilion. This event had a panel that discusses the past, present, and future of technology, offering an interactive event where local children can see the mechanics of robotics up-close.  The second event was the Science Festival Expo. This event will be offered to K-12 students across the state to participate in STEM learning through robotics. The third event was the Pack Expo. This event allowed our members to educate people in the packing industry from all over the world about the impact of robotics at the high school level. The fourth event was hosting the First Lego League scrimmage matches. This event trained the First Lego League) participants  to know what to expect at their qualifiers and competition. referees, judges, and volunteers were also trained here.

 

We also participated in three events related to our school. The first event we  participated in was freshman orientation at our high school. This event welcomed incoming freshman to the school and helped them and their parents learn what to expect when they started attending high school. The second event was Clark HS’s open house. This event opened the school up to all the students and their families and helped them learn how to get involved in the school.  The third event was that the team donated toothbrushes for care packages to help homeless teens.

 

• Operates K-5 robotics events for the entirety of southern Nevada

• Participates in multiple expos, including the Las Vegas Science and Technology Festival and LVL UP Expo, totalling to over 40 events in 5 years

• Hosts annual camp that teaches kids how to program with Lego WeDo 2.0