Franklin High Robotics Aims to Make it Big in Texas

Published April 5, 2018

Snow days didn’t stop the Franklin High School Robotics Team from reaching a major milestone in its history: the first big title at a competition.

The Franklin Robokomodos took home first place in the FIRST Robotics Smoky Mountain Regional Competition in Knoxville after unanticipated delays in their contest preparation due to weather.

The title is the team’s first major win since the Highest Rookie Team Award they earned in 2012, their inaugural year.

“This is significant to the program in many ways,” Domkowski said. “The continuing members have a reputation now, and they also know what it takes to succeed. They will also have better chances to be awarded some of the scholarships that the FIRST program has to offer students.”

As a result of the team’s victory, they’ve earned a spot at the FIRST Championsship hosted in Houston from April 18-21.

“Since we didn’t plan on going, this means we have to do some serious fundraising in a short time,” said Domkowski. “That is where most of our time will be spent.”

The victory couldn’t have come at a better time. At the end of the semester, Domkowski will be retiring.

“I feel fortunate to have seen this program grow in quality to be going to the world competition,” he said. “The program will grow in numbers and quality, and this will help them develop the team to a higher level.”