Programs
High School Robotics
Science and Technology Group (STG) supports a high school level robotics team comprised of students mostly from Mountain Home high school. The team accepts other high school students in the greater Mountain Home area as well as home school students. This team was formed in 1996 and named the Baxter Bomb Squad after their sustaining industry partner Baxter Healthcare Corporation and the high school’s mascot The Bombers.
The team has won many awards throughout their years of participation including the Chairman’s Award (now FIRST Impact Award) in 2000 and World Champion Robotics Competition Wining Alliance in 2012. Bomb Squad has had three mentors win regional Woodie Flowers Awards one of which won the world Woodie Flowers Award in 2009. Also, students have been recognized for their outstanding performance in all aspects of participation on the team.
Bomb Squad constructs a new robot each year designed specifically to compete in a fast-paced game challenge. The game is different each year and uses various game elements such as balls, pool float rings, tote tubs, frisbees, and much more. These robots typically play on a game court about the size of a basketball court. The robots vary in size from year to year with typical dimensions of 30”L x 30”W x 54”H and weigh 135lbs. The robots can reach speeds of 20 feet per second.
Junior High Robotics
STG also supports a robotics team at Mountain Home Junior High School. Named the Junior Bomb Squad, this team was founded in 2006 to address a perceived need by STG to target students in 8th and 9th grades that had participated in younger age robotics programs but were not old enough to participate on the high school team. Vantive and Baxter Healthcare are the primary sponsors of this team which has been mentored since inception by Andy Marts who is a now retired Baxter Healthcare engineer. The team has won it’s way to world championships many times and was a 2009 World Championship Winning Alliance member and 2013 South Super Regional Wining Alliance team captain.
For many years, STG produced the Arkansas State Championship for this robotics program in Mountain Home which drew 20 to 30 teams from Arkansas and surrounding states hoping to win their way to a super-regional and/or world championship. The program is now managed by Arkansas' FIRST Program Partner and consists of a state championship and qualifiers, one of which STG and the Bomb Squad host in Mountain Home.
Robotics Programs Ages 9 to 14
Youth robotics using the Lego Mindstorms Robotic Invention Kit began in 1999. Baxter Healthcare supported the program producing the state championship tournament and financially assisting local teams. When STG was founded in 2001, STG took over the support of this program.
Currently, STG supports two local teams, one at Hackler Intermediate School (3rd, 4th, and 5th grades) and the second at Pinkston Middle School (6th & 7th grades). Both teams have had success traveling to championship tournaments in California and Australia.