Design
CAD the robot in Onshape, argue the tradeoffs, and own the geometry that everything else depends on.
About Antares
Students make the decisions
Mentors bring safety, technical context and coaching. Students do the rest: they make the engineering calls, run the budget, find the sponsors, and teach the group coming up behind them.
- 2018
- FoundedRookie season at Khan Lab School
- 75
- StudentsOn the team this season, from 6th grade through 12th
- 10
- FIRST awardsFor engineering, imagery, autonomous and team culture
- 16+
- Hours a weekPer member during build season
Leadership development
Knowledge that carries forward
FRC typically serves 9th through 12th grade. Because Antares starts in 6th grade, a student can spend seven years on the team: long enough to learn a discipline properly, lead it, and train a replacement before they leave.
- 01
Join in middle school
6th graders start alongside experienced teammates instead of waiting for high school.
- 02
Learn the craft
Structured training in design, build, electrical, code, fabrication, marketing, business and outreach.
- 03
Lead a direction
Students own a subsystem, a budget line or an outreach program, with mentors as coaches.
- 04
Teach it forward
Leads train the students behind them, so expertise stays on the team when they graduate.
What students lead
Eight disciplines, all student run
Every one of these has a student lead, a training curriculum and a job to do before the robot ships.
Build
Cut, drill, tap and assemble. Turn a model into a machine that survives a competition weekend.
Electrical
Power distribution, motor controllers, sensors and the wiring discipline that keeps a robot alive.
Code
Java on the roboRIO: autonomous routines, driver controls, vision and the control loops between them.
Fabrication
CAM in Fusion 360 and the Shopbot CNC router that cuts our custom parts.
Marketing
Social media, merchandise, photography and the team's public voice.
Business
Budgeting, sponsor research, pitching and the partnerships that fund the season.
Outreach
Events that bring robotics to younger students and the wider community.
Our school
Khan Lab School
Antares is based at Khan Lab School, a nonprofit school built to explore what mastery-based, student-directed learning looks like in practice. The team extends that model into a leadership development and engineering program with real deadlines, public performance and student ownership.
- 2004
Sal Khan began tutoring his cousin remotely, which grew into Khan Academy, the nonprofit known for free online lessons and mastery learning.
- 2012
His book The One World Schoolhouse proposed a student-centered, mastery-based model for K-12 education.
- 2014
He founded Khan Lab School in Mountain View to test and refine those ideas in an actual school.
- Today
KLS serves approximately 315 TK-12 students on two Silicon Valley campuses, with an emphasis on student agency and real-world application.
The competition
What FIRST Robotics Competition is
Every January, FIRST reveals a brand-new game. Teams get 8 weeks to build a robot for it, then compete at district events and regionals. Matches last two and a half minutes and pair alliances of three teams against three.
- 01
Autonomous
For the first 15 seconds the robot runs student-written code with no driver input.
- 02
Driver control
Students take the controls, maneuver the field and coordinate with two alliance partners.
- 03
Endgame
Robots score points on that season's tasks and race for an endgame position. The higher alliance score wins.
More than 93,000 students competed in FRC in 2025, and over 200 Fortune 500 companies sponsor FIRST. Read more about the program.
Recognition
A growing record
Antares awards span technical performance, imagery, team culture and individual student leadership.
- 2026Autonomous Award
- 2026Imagery Award
- 2025Team Spirit Award
- 2024Regional FinalistMonterey Bay Regional
- 2024Excellence in EngineeringMonterey Bay Regional
- 2024Innovation in ControlSunset Showdown
- 2024Dean's List FinalistIndividual student recognition
- 2021Imagery AwardIn honor of Jack Kamen
- 2019Team Spirit Award
- 2018Highest Rookie Seed
Get involved
Support students from 6th grade through 12th
Sponsorship and donations pay for the parts, the registration fees and the shop time that make this program possible.