2024 was another momentous year for the MERCs. We nearly doubled our workspace when we moved once again to our new home, a 3000 square foot area with room for our growing teams. Overall we had 95 students on 12 FLL teams, 62 students on 5 FTC teams, and 53 students on our FRC team. To accommodate these teams and to provide a STEAM resource to the McKinney area, we established the McKinney Steam Academy. Our outreach efforts continued with the establishment of summer camps and STEAM nights as well as participating in the McKinney Chamber of Commerce to promote robotics to local businesses. Our first competition was at the Belton District event where we were event finalists as part of the 5th seed alliance and also were awarded the Sustainability Award. At the Amarillo District competition we were a member of the 2nd seed alliance. We were honored and thrilled to be awarded the Impact Award for the second year in a row. We once again competed in the Texas District Championship in Houston. For the overall season we ended up ranked 28th in the state.

Awards/Accomplishments:

• District Event Finalist

• Team Sustainability Award sponsored by Dow

• District FIRST Impact Award

• FIRST In Texas District Championship

The year 2023 saw big changes for Mercenary Robotics. We moved into a new 1600 square foot workspace and our FRC team membership increased to 25 students with our overall enrollment across all programs increasing to over 100 students. We continued to add FLL and FTC teams to our roster of teams. We also greatly expanded our outreach efforts by hosting FTC N League competitions, mentoring FTC and FLL teams, and sponsoring STEM nights at local schools. Our outreach efforts even spread to another continent when we started a partnership with The WAAW(Working to Advance Science and Technology Education for African Women) Foundation. Our first competition of the Charged Up season was at the Fort Worth District Competition where we were a member of the 7th seed alliance. For our second competition we traveled to Amarillo where we captained the 4th seed alliance to the 4th round of the playoffs. Our outreach efforts were recognized when we were awarded our first ever Impact Award! At the Texas District Championships, we were the alliance captain for the 3rd seed alliance.

Awards/Accomplishments:

• District FIRST Impact Award

• FIRST In Texas District Championship

2022 saw the return of in-person competitions with the Rapid React game. Due to the impact of Covid and the graduation of a number of senior members, our team had only one remaining member at the end of 2021. Fortunately 10 new students joined in late 2021 and we began to slowly rebuild as a team. Our first competition was at the Fort Worth District competition where we made it to the Semifinals. At our second competition at the District Irving event we were the eighth seed alliance captain and were awarded the Industrial Design Award. For the first time in our history we made it to the First in Texas District Championships where we competed in the Mercury Division. Our outreach efforts expanded with the launch of twice monthly presentations at the McKinney Public Library where we introduced robotics and the FIRST program to 30-50 students at each session.

Awards/Accomplishments:

• Semifinals In Fort Worth

• FIRST In Texas District Championship

In-person events were not held this year due to the continuing COVID pandemic. We competed in the Infinite Recharge at Home challenge and placed 8th in the Potassium division.

Awards/Accomplishments:

• Placed 8th in the Potassium division

Mercenary Robotics began our season competing in the Infinite Recharge game at the Plano District event. We were honored to receive the Innovation in Control Award at this competition. Unfortunately our season was cut short due to the global COVID pandemic.

Despite the pandemic we were able to continue to grow our program with the start of 2 FLL teams.

Awards/Accomplishments:

• Innovation in Control Award

Our team competed in the Deep Space game under the district model for the first time in 2019. Our first competition was at the Plano District Event where we were a member of the 8th seed alliance. At our second competition at the Greenville District Event we were an alliance captain for the first time as we led the sixth seed alliance. 

We continued to expand our outreach efforts by participating in robot demonstrations at local schools and businesses, driving our robot in local parades and even showcasing our robot at a city council meeting. We also formed a partnership with the McKinney Rotary Club where we placed flags outside of homes and businesses on federal holidays. We also were able to start two FTC teams under the Mercenary banner.

Awards/Accomplishments:

• Started two FTC teams

In 2018 our team grew to 11 students as we competed in the Power Up game. We were fortunate to partner with Collin County Habitat for Humanity who provided us with a workspace within their warehouse. We were thrilled to have a space to store our tools and equipment and to work on our robot. In return we volunteered in Habitat’s Restore and also helped with home builds. We competed in the Dallas Regional Competition and also at the Lone Star South Regional Competition where we advanced to the semi finals.

During the off-season we competed at the NXT Tournament of Robots and Stem Gals Competition where our girl’s team was a member of the winning Stem Gals alliance.

Awards/Accomplishments:

• Member of the winning Stem Gals alliance

In 2017 we competed in our first FRC season, Steamworks. Our small team of 7 students worked out of a parent’s garage and gameroom to build our first robot. The team also began outreach initiatives speaking at local schools and businesses and worked tirelessly to secure funding for our competitions. At the Dallas Regional Competition we experienced the thrill of robotics competition for the first time. Our second competition was the Brazos Valley Regional where we won the Highest Rookie Seed Award. We were also honored to be awarded the Rookie All Star Award which qualified us to attend the Worlds Championship competition in Houston. At Worlds, we competed in the Newton Division and enjoyed the experience of meeting other FRC teams from around the world.

Awards/Accomplishments:

• Rookie All Star Award

• Attend the Worlds Championship