Welcome to the Oconomowoc High School Robotics team home page. This site is designed to be a resource for team members and for the general public to get a feel for FIRST and CooneyTech Robotics. Oconomowoc High School is fielding a FIRST Robotics competition team for the ninth consecutive year. We participate in the international FIRST Robotics competition as Team 269, CooneyTech Robotics.

The FIRST Robotics competition challenges teams of students and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules. Teams build their robots parts and enter them into a competition that is designed anew annually by Dean Kamen, Woodie Flowers, and Dave Lavery. The competition has grown to more than 1,200 teams competing in over 30 regional events, and the World Championship event, which is held this year at the World Congress Center and Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA. There are more than 40,000 students who participate in the event.

The CooneyTech Robotics web design team was started for the 2004 robotics season. The original site was a bordered, white table. The site also had forums, running on phpBB 2.0.6.

The site got its first makeover at the end of the 2005 season. The new site featured a flash intro and was black with white and purple text, a purple fractal header, and oversized white links in the sidebar. CooneyTech Robotics received its first Website Excellence Award for the 2006 Website.

The site received another makeover for the 2007 season and won yet another Website Excellence Award. The new site used purple and gray gradients and an opaque image of the kit of parts for the header. The new site also began to use PHP to create a dynamic gallery and resource page. The forums also had a template that matched the site template for the first time since CooneyTech Robotics had a website.

The 2007 site will be almost fully programmed in PHP and will be almost totally dynamic. Dynamic page creation is needed for the 2007 site to make it fully dynamic. The forums were upgraded to phpBB 3 for the 2007 seasons, an attempt to rid the site of spambots.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a multinational non-profit organization, that aspires to transform culture, making science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today.

FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter. FIRST operates the FIRST Robotics Competition in which teams of high school students, sponsored and assisted by local companies and volunteers, design, assemble, and test a robot capable of performing a specified task in competition with other teams. FIRST also runs the FIRST LEGO League, for children 9-14 years old, and FIRST Place, an innovative science and technology center, including a hands-on children's science museum.

FIRST was founded on partnerships with businesses, educational institutions and government. Many Fortune 500 companies provide funding, in-kind donations and volunteers to support the program.

The key to FIRST's success is the work of over 25,000 volunteer mentors, professional engineers, teachers, and other adults working with students across the country. In addition to the thousands of volunteer team mentors, FIRST competitions and other events were organized and staffed by over 14,000 event and committee volunteers. Through these volunteers, FIRST programs engaged over 70,000 young people during the last year. FIRST programs are growing rapidly in the United States and Canada, and demand is accelerating in other countries.

FIRST redefines winning for students. Teams are rewarded for excellence in design, team spirit, gracious professionalism, maturity, and the ability to overcome obstacles. Scoring the most points is a secondary goal. Winning means building partnerships that last.