PivotGen is pleased to announce its continued sponsorship of the Despicable Machine robotics team for their 2025-2026 season. The team, based out of Barrington High School, a public high school in Barrington, IL competes in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). FIRST is a volunteer-driven robotics community that prepares young people for the future by advancing youth experience in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Founded in 1989, FIRST combines the excitement of traditional sports with the rigor of STEM learning. The organization now reaches millions of people with programs that have a proven impact on learning, interest, and skill-building inside and outside of the classroom.
Teams like Despicable Machine who participate in the FIRST Tech Challenge (for Grades 7-12) learn to think like engineers. Teams design, build, and program robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. Robots are built from a reusable platform, powered by Android technology and programmed using a variety of levels of Java-based coding. Each FTC season concludes with regional championship events, culminating in the annual FIRST Championship in April.
Despicable Machine (team 6200) has been competing since 2012, though as a school-based team, the individual members turn over every few years. In the 2022 season, the co-ed team of 8 won several FTC awards at regional and state events. Below are a few additional examples of the team’s accomplishments over the past few years:
- In February and March 2024, they received the FTC Inspire Award, the top award in their competition, for the first time in the team’s history. They also received 1st place in the FTC Motivate Award at state for their outreach efforts.
- In August 2024, they started a mentorship program for FIRST Lego League teams, especially targeting new teams and coaches. They were able to reach 83 teams in a 5-week workshop and directly mentored 8 teams, with 5 of them going on to state competitions and winning awards.
- In November 2024, the team was featured on ABC 7 News for their self-written and self-illustrated picture book promoting gender diversity in robotics and STEM, Breaking the Code with Gabriella. In the months leading up to this, they had distributed 2,500 copies of the book in their local community to families and teachers.
- In December 2024, they held a toy drive that collected over 400 toys for hospitalized children at Alexian Brothers Hospital to receive during the holiday season.
- In February 2025, they received 1st place in the FTC Control Award for their code and software development.
Their goal for the season: “we strived to create impact on a large scale by inspiring people all over the world to take on STEM and FIRST, both at a professional and community level. FIRST has become more than just a robot on a field for our team — it’s become a way for us to effect meaningful change in the lives of people and to do our part in creating the next generation of engineers, coders, leaders, and visionaries. Implementing the principles of “Gracious Professionalism,” we aim to learn, share our knowledge, and inspire others to do the same.”
PivotGen believes that the future of the planet is in the hands of the youth, and we have the responsibility to support them and ensure they are prepared for all the challenges that lie ahead.
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