FRC Team #1902: Exploding Bacon has been a member of Team REV for the past two seasons. Read on to learn about their experience with REV's Sponsorship Program!

Tell us a little bit about your team’s background.

4-H Exploding Bacon (Team 1902) is a community based FIRST Robotics Competition team serving Central Florida, founded in 2006. We have students from 4 counties, 14 schools, and homeschoolers. We teach students mechanical, electrical, programming, and pneumatics along with non-technical skills like public speaking, leadership and teamwork. Our goal is to grow capable leaders who will make a positive impact. 

In 2019, 4-H Exploding Bacon became the first Florida team to win the FIRST Championship Chairman’s Award (now the FIRST Impact Award), the most prestigious FIRST Robotics Competition Award. We are also the founders of #FIRSTLikeAGirl. Our mission is to have fun doing cool things that help people. 

Every year, our robot has a pig-themed name that goes with the FIRST theme. This year our robot was named Porkestra. Our mascot is Wilbur and he can be seen dancing and cheering at competitions. Our cheer “Oink, Oink, Boom!” helps people recognize us at events and outreaches and everyone enjoys joining in.

What are a few achievements your team was proud of this past season?

• We unveiled a new #FIRSTLikeAGirl workshop, How to Empower Young Women in STEAM, this season. We presented at both regionals and at FIRST Championship. 
• We built our first successful swerve drive robot that was consistent and competitive.
• Our robot had real-time autonomous pathing for teleop.
• Our human player was the #1 human player in our division at FIRST Championship
• We made it to eliminations at both of our regionals.
• Every year, we consistently have more than 2,000 hours of outreach in the community and at FIRST events.
• Our team is known for our spirit and are always the first to get up and dance, including our mascot, Wilbur. 
• We hosted 3 teams the week of the Orlando Regional: Team 6948 from Turkey, Team 7072 from Alabama, and rookie team 9728 from Orlando.
• This year we have 20 new members that we trained and helped find their passion and place on the team.

What was your favorite part about being a member of #TeamREV these past two seasons?

We love REV parts, and with the sponsorship, we are able to use more of them and have spares for competition. We also really like talking and collaborating with other teams to learn from each other.

Wondering when #TeamREV Sponsorship Applications will open for the 2024-25 season? Bookmark our Team Sponsorship Webpage and stay tuned to our social media platforms and e-newsletter for an official announcement!

Exploding Bacon can be found on the following platforms:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• X (Twitter)
• TikTok
• YouTube
• FIRST Like a Girl Website