Meet FRC Team #343: Metal in Motion. This #TeamREV team from South Carolina is almost 25 years strong! Read on to learn more about the team.

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

Our team was founded in 1999 with our first competition season in 2000. We still have one mentor with the team from our first year, and another mentor who has been with us since our second year. We have over fifteen adult volunteers, including parents who mentor the students based on their professional expertise. Many of these volunteers are engineers or programmers in their fields. Our team also has roughly thirty students from upstate high schools and homeschool groups. 

Aside from being part of #TeamREV, our largest sponsors come from our local manufacturing plants of Itron, Horton, Inc, and Schneider Electric. Some of our other sponsors are Borg Warner, Duke Power, and Sealed Air. Our team does not have a specific mascot, but team members dress to lean into our new heavy metal theme.

In addition to community outreach, we also compete every year in the Peachtree district and off-season events such as SCRAP and SCRIW.

What are a few recent achievements your team is proud of?

• Last year, we were honored to qualify for FIRST Championship in Houston, TX.
• We have doubled the number of students involved with this team from last year. 
• Being asked by another FRC team to be a part of their podcast featuring teams from all 50 states.
• Becoming a part of #TeamREV.
• Our ongoing partnership with a local non-profit, BRIEF (Blue Ridge Innovation and Entrepreneurship Foundation). BRIEF's mission is to provide access, training, and experience to kids from low income families that they need to thrive in today's technology-driven world. One of our mentors is the director of their LEGO Robotics program. Another mentor works with their high school coding classes. The rest of us help teach the elementary LEGO robotics classes in the fall and a week-long summer camp.
• We have enjoyed doing many robot demonstrations at local events such as: 
  • Cub Scout Day Camp
  • School District of Oconee County STEAM Night
  • Local restaurant Piece of Pie's Friday night concert (when the Peanut Butter Whiskey Band was playing hard rock music that went along with our metal theme)
  • Jazz on the Alley - Oct. 26 (held in downtown Seneca on Thursdays March - October)
  • Veteran's Festival in Westminster

What goals have your team been working on recently?

• Our team aims to consistently reach the finals or win at the district and state levels each year.
• We hope to promote STEM in our community to create a pipeline of success for future recruits.
• We want to recruit enough interest to create FRC teams in each of the three counties we represent.

What is your team enjoying within the #TeamREV Sponsorship Program?

We love our #TeamREV swag, especially our #TeamREV Sticker Pack. We are also enjoying our new swerve drivetrain, which we used our REV sponsorship to help purchase.

Congratulations, Metal in Motion, for being an Event Winner at the PCH District Anderson event this past weekend! Follow Metal in Motion on these platforms:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• X (Twitter)
• YouTube