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About Us

Team 4643, Butte Built Bots, is a competitive robotics team comprised of 9th-12th grade students from schools
across Butte County. We have been involved with the​ FIRST ​Robotics Competition since 2013 and started competing in the VEX Robotics Competition in 2019.

Our Adviser, Jonathon Andrew, started in Robotics when he was a high school student. After taking a teaching job at Las Plumas High School in Oroville, California, he took it upon himself to start the first and only robotics team in northern California. Our rookie year, in 2013, consisted of multiple members from Las Plumas High School and one member from Oroville High School. Our mentors were supplied from Butte College and Chico State located one town over.

In 2014 however, our team gathered members from Las Plumas, Chico High and Inspire School of Arts and Sciences. We grew in size and knowledge, and instantly grew together as a family. That was the year that we decide that our home base was Las Plumas, but our team caters to all high school students within Butte County. We claimed more mentors and sponsors that helped us to move faster and complete building our robot for that year. Our team also held a week long Lego Robotics camp at Butte College in the summer of 2014 for kids in grades 3rd-8th.  We split the kids into four groups and had them come up with names, build Lego robots, eat snacks, play games. We ended the week with a mini tournament and invited all of the parents to come and see what their kids achieved.

In 2015, students from CORE Butte and Hearthstone joined our team, and we couldn’t be prouder to accept them and their knowledge. This year’s mission was a lot harder than the previous ones and took longer to visualize and then build, but we did it. Again, we hosted a summer Lego Robotics camp.

In 2016, we created a non-profit organization called IRON Cal. Our team continued to host the Lego Robotics camp for kids in grades 3rd-8th.

Our History

Team 4643 was founded as Thunderbird Robotics in 2011 by Jon Andrew, an Industrial Technology teacher at Las Plumas High School, Jon Ahmann, then a CSU, Chico Engineering Major, as well as several other mentors. In 2017 the team moved out of Las Plumas High School and changed its name to Butte Built Bots (B3), to better represent its mission to serve all students of Butte County.

B3 currently operates out of the Highway 70 Industrial Park in Oroville, CA and brings in students from all over Butte County. In the Fall of 2016, the 501(c)(3) non-profit, Inspiration Robotics of Northern California (IRON Cal) was created to facilitate the growth of B3 and STEM based learning through robotics in the more rural parts of Northern California.

Our Vision

To promote enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering, and math in high school students in the communities of Butte County, California by operating an annual robotics team comprised of a diverse group of students from various schools and organizations. Our goal is to help change the culture of American youth to one in which engineering, science, and technology are among the most prized and recognized skills sought by the majority; A culture wherein these skills become commonplace rather than the exception.

Goals

  • Inspire students in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)
  • Promote the ideals of ​ FIRST
  • Prepare students for leadership roles
  • Increase community awareness and STEM education opportunities
  • Mentor students through positive role models
  • Encourage students to "fail faster" as a means to find success

Team Mentors

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Executive Officers

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Department Directors

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Subteam Managers

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Non-leadership Members

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Robot Shop

Team 4643 works out of the Highway 70 Industrial Park in Oroville. Our robot shop is located inside the southeast corner of warehouse building #17, right across from Crown Metals Recycling.

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Address

4801 Feather River Blvd
#32F (Bldg #17)
Oroville, CA 95965