MECO (MEE-koh) Robotics is a community robotics organization in east Orlando comprised of a small, close-knit group of dedicated students, supportive parents, and talented mentors and coaches who bring STEM education and a unique form of community service to the underserved community of Bithlo and the surrounding area. We focus on problem solving, collaboration, leadership, and real-life applications of professional and life skills for students of all interests and backgrounds. And of course we build really cool robots.

Our FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team, team 8324 MECO Robotics, participates in a global program in which teams of typically high school age students learn all aspects of running a business while engineering and competing with industrial-sized robots. Teams are annually tasked with designing, manufacturing, programming, and driving a robot to play a difficult field game with and against other teams from around the world, while also keeping to a budget and strict timeline, maintaining a team brand, and expanding awareness of and excitement for STEM in their communities.

The competition season is January-March, although we meet year-round for training, outreach, and teambuilding.

Our FIRST Lego League Challenge (FLL Challenge) team, MECObits team 58292, introduces science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to upper elementary and middle school students through fun, exciting hands-on learning. In FIRST Lego League, students engage in hands-on STEM experiences, building confidence, growing their knowledge and developing habits of learning. 

Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.