Why FTC robotics?

Robotics competitions - especially FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) - have emerged as a super fun way for young people to get hands-on experience with technology and engineering: coding, 3d printing, CAD, motion planning, servo motors, PID control, computer vision, and more. (In case you're wondering, this is not BattleBots where they destroy each other, it's more like a game.)

Robotics teams also foster real world skills like team building, project management, and collaborative problem-solving, skills that will be important no matter how AI shapes the world ahead. Like youth sports, robotics builds character and teaches kids to deal with adversity.

LAUSD and many private schools have embraced robotics, but Santa Monica schools have not. Luckily the west side has Samotech. We offer championship-level robotics teams, taught by a Stanford-trained mechanical engineer, without the scheduling or budget limitations of a school environment. We have fun building, and we build to win.

Watch us in action

SaMoTech is 501(c)(3) nonprofit community team founded in 2022 by a motly crew of mostly ninth graders and a couple dads. Working out of a family garage, SaMoTech has fought its way to the #1 ranking in the SoCal region, and with most of the original members in their final senior year of high school, we finally won FTC Socal Regionals and went to worlds! Beyond learning engineering and robotics through competition, we regularly support other teams and promote robotics and STEM education in our local community.