HMB Robotics Fundraising Campaign

What is HMB Robotics? HMB Robotics currently comprises two community competitive FIRST Robotics teams: The Pumpkin Bots, our high school team, and Coastside Circuits, our middle school team.  We are planning within the next two years to start an elementary school team so students of all ages have access to a year round STEM program here on the Coast.  All of our programs are open to any curious student living here on the Coastside.  In each program, students learn the skills one would learn working in a tech startup: hardware, software, design, documentation, project management,  leadership, public speaking, fundraising, grant writing, and marketing.   The experience our students have benefit them no matter where they go post high school, whether that be to college, in the trades, or straight into the workforce.  

What is FIRST? Founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST® is a global nonprofit organization that prepares young people for the future through a suite of life-changing youth robotics programs that build skills, confidence, and resilience.

Who are the Pumpkin Bots? Team 8793, The Pumpkin Bots is a year round high school FRC (First Robotics Challenge) team that was founded in the fall of 2021.  In our rookie year, we went to the World Championship in Houston TX and competed with teams from all over the world.  We are currently a small but mighty team of 10 kids, while the typical FRC team has between 20-40 students.  We take pride in the fact that as a small team, all of our students participate in all aspects of this experience, which creates an environment where they have to learn about more than just what they're interested in.

Who are the Coastside Circuits? The Coastside Circuits is a year round middle school FTC (First Tech Challenge) team that was founded in the fall of 2024.  

We founded this team because we were seeing that by the time students reached high school, they felt that robotics wasn't for them because either they had never done anything like this before or because they didn't think they were "smart enough".  Having students start earlier gives us the opportunity to reach a broader group of students, as they are more willing to try new things without being intimidated.  In our first season as a team, we had 13 students from both Cunha and Sea Crest.