FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics represents student led engineering across the country. Not only does it help students to learn about what the engineering field is like, but it also gives students a sense of competition and teamwork going forward in their career. At Ray-Pec, the coaching torch has been handed to Kevin Killingsworth.

“I’ve been a judge at the Kansas City Regional FIRST Robotics Competition for the past two years,” said pending robotics coach Kevin Killingsworth, “During that time, I got to meet and talk to all of the teams in the Kansas City Area and find out what makes them successful. I got to see the differences in the teams that were truly successful, and the others that were just hanging on.  The Ray-Pec team does a good job building the robot, but it’s been hanging on for a while, and I believe the team can be so much more.”

Although the Ray-Pec robotics team has done well a couple of years out of the many that it has competed at the Kansas City Regional FIRST competition, the team still needs some work.

After former coach Brian Moore resigned from his role in the team, Killingsworth began deliberating with principal Steven Miller on how to become the primary sponsor of the team going forward this year. However, Killingsworth will still need for there to be a teacher to watch the students until he can get to the workshops.

“I work at Garmin, and it takes me about 40-45 min to get back home from work,” said Killingsworth, “So, the earliest I could start the workshop is about 5 pm, which can make it hard for the students to come back to school for that time period. We have tried to find another sponsor to fill in the 2 hour gap, but so far have been unsuccessful.”

As far as the future of the team, Killingsworth wants to revolutionize the team, and finally make them a consistent competitor at the regionals.

“I would like to see the robotics team be a student led program year round. We can get everyone involved, identify leaders, and get the student leadership going,” said Killingsworth, “The students could take on responsibilities like leadership, t shirt designs, collecting dues, keeping track of funds, doing marketing, and developing a business plan in addition to the normal team student activities. I would be here to help and coach but I would really like to start the team moving in that direction to become a student led organization.”

Killingsworth is also looking into getting help from other teams in the area and finding out what makes them so successful, so as to mirror their improvements and strengths.

“There are a lot of teams in the metro that have a good model and are strong, and we could reach out to them for support and help,” said Killingsworth, “The closest ones are Lee’s Summit, and I have spoke to them. They seem to be very keen on helping us out, so that they can have better competition and grow as a result. It’s good to have a little bit of rivalry, but keep it healthy and sportsmanlike. That would be great.”

This year will introduce a new coach and a new style to the way the robotics team is. If you are interested in joining the robotics team once it has began, there will be an announcement on how to join and where to go once everything is official.