BUILD
Building
We fabricate and assemble the robot from reusable structural channel, custom-cut panels and 3D-printed parts. Every mechanism gets prototyped, tested and rebuilt until it survives a match.
[About Us]
Rookie year, full throttle
We are a FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Team in our Rookie Year for the 2026-2027 Season. Our team is community-based in Southwest Florida, and we are high school students who love Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math (STEM). We strive to share our love for robotics with others and believe STEM is for everyone.
- Team
- Superluminal #35889
- Season
- 2026–2027
- League
- Southwest Florida League
- Coach
- Laura Burns
[Our Story]
A brand new team, building in the open
Superluminal is community-based — we are not tied to a single school, so our members come from across Southwest Florida. This is our rookie season, which means everything you see here was designed, printed, wired and coded for the first time this year.
Laura Burns leads the team as our coach and lead mentor. We meet to design, build and program together, and we document the whole build on our YouTube channel so anyone can follow along. As a team we brainstorm ideas, plan, design and make robots from start to finish — and we strive to share our love for robotics with others.
Rookie Season
2026–2027
Program
FIRST Tech Challenge
Base
Southwest Florida
Sub-Teams
Build · Code · CAD · Outreach
[Sub-Teams]
Four ways we build
Every member works across the team, but each of us owns a specialty. Together they take a robot from a blank OnShape document to a matched-up machine.
CODE
Programming
The robot is coded in Java and runs on Android-powered control hardware. We write autonomous routines and driver-controlled logic, then tune both against real match conditions.
CAD
Computer Aided Design
Every robot starts as a full assembly in OnShape. Modeling the whole build before a single part is ordered keeps each phase accurate and catches problems long before the hardware exists.
OUTREACH
Outreach
We bring robotics out of the workshop — demos, community events and our summer outreach robot, Faster Than Light, which is designed to take in and shoot balls to share robotics with the community.
FIRST® Tech Challenge
is designed for students who want to compete head to head using an exciting sports model. Teams design, build, and program their robots to compete on a 12' × 12' field, in an Alliance format, against other teams. Robots are built from a reusable platform, powered by Android technology, and programmed using Java or Blockly. Teams, including coaches, mentors, and volunteers, develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles, such as rapid prototyping. Awards are given for the competition, as well as community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments.
To learn more visit firstinspires.org/about[Students Get To]
- Design, build, and program robots
- Model a real-world engineering process
- Apply math and science concepts
- Develop strategic problem-solving, organizational, and team-building skills
- Build life skills while building robots and work towards participating in tournaments and FIRST Championship
- Compete and cooperate in Alliances at tournaments
- Access exclusive scholarships from hundreds of colleges and universities