Samotech Robotics
Building young innovators in Santa Monica since 2022
Unaffiliated with any school, we welcome kids from all over the west side to have fun with robotics and compete on one of our award-winning robotics teams (SoCal Champs 2026!), regardless of what school they attend.
Our organization currently has multiple programs for the 2026/27 season:
- High School FTC team - SaMoTech 21536
- Middle School FTC Team - Cyberquakes 27299
- FLL Lego Challenge team - grades 4-6
- Summer programs for FTC, CAD, 3d printing, and more!
The seasons for FTC and FLL start in September, and we have limited openings in all programs! For more information, please email Coach Chris at bebuckle@gmail.com.
Why should my kid do robotics?
Like team sports, robotics teams foster real world skills like team building, resilience, and collaborative problem-solving, skills that will be important no matter how AI shapes the world ahead.
Additionally, robotics competitions - especially FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) - offer hands-on experience with cutting edge technology and engineering: coding, 3d printing, CAD, motion planning, servos, PID control, computer vision, AI and more.
LAUSD and many private schools have embraced robotics, but Santa Monica schools (SMMUSD) have not. That's why we started Samotech. We offer championship-level robotics teams taught by a Stanford-trained engineer, without the scheduling or budget limitations of a school environment.
(A lot of people ask about AI: We use it occasionally to debug, but it has caused more problems than it has solved the last couple years. We're open to anything, but FTC is a classic 80/20 problem: you get 80% of your results from your first 20% of effort, but that last 20% is what separates the good teams from the barely-rans. So however you get that easy 20% - AI or copying last year's design or using a starter bot from the internet - what really matters is the fine-tuning of mechanical and electrical designs, and practice practice practice so you can execute on game day.)
Watch us in action
This video is from the FTC World Championships in Houston, TX in May 2026. In the video, our robot is the one taking long shots into the red goal while our partner shoots from close up. This very high-scoring match is on our way to the semifinals of our division at Worlds, where we were in approximately the top 25 of teams worldwide. 400 points in one match is huge!
SaMoTech is 501(c)(3) nonprofit community team founded in 2022. Working out of a family garage, SaMoTech has fought its way from rookie to the #1 ranking in the SoCal region and going to Worlds in 2026. Beyond learning engineering and robotics through competition, we regularly support other teams and promote robotics and STEM education in our local community.
Coaching Makes a Difference
All Samotech programs are led by the award-winning head coach of Samotech, Chris Rowe, a Stanford mechanical engineering graduate who very much wishes that robotics competitions had existed when he was a lad! Chris has been in STEM education for over 20 years, first as a math and science tutor and robotics coach, and then as an edtech website entrepreneur.
This video was the team's secretly made surprise submission nominating Coach Chris as Socal Coach of the Year (aka the Compass Award Winner) at 2025 Socal FTC Championship Tournament. We didn't make Worlds that year, sadly, but Chris was in tears anyway from the honor of the Compass Award, mostly because of the kind words of the kids speaking from their hearts. If he could have nominated them as the best robotics kids of the year, he would have!
BIG NEWS: SaMoTech Went To Worlds!
We were big dogs amongst the biggest dogs, going 8 wins 2 losses at the FTC World Championships in Houston, May 2026
SaMoTech wins Socal Championship!
After knocking on the door for 3 years
SaMoTech Robotics #21936
Contact us at samotechrobotics@gmail.com