Blair Bunnybots

Blair Bunnybots, our annual off-season FRC-style event, is designed to welcome new members of teams into the FIRST community and to help them develop their skills. The 3-month build season ends with a day of competition that allows new members to show off their work and have fun at an event just for them. The 2025-26 event—our eighth—drew 18 teams from across the Chesapeake region.

With Blair Bunnybots, we aim to exemplify a culture of healthy competition, kindness, and cooperation. The event embodies the spirit of Gracious Professionalism while recognizing the value in teamwork and community. Perhaps most importantly, in demonstrating first-hand the excitement of competition robotics, Blair Bunnybots lights and fuels a lasting passion in participating youth so they keep coming back for more robotics and STEM learning.

Why Bunnybots?

In 2018, we faced a problem: with team veterans graduating and new rookies joining every year, how could we transform a fumbling collection of newbies into a coordinated, communicative unit within a short timeframe? Part of the answer: Bunnybots!

Inspired by Team 1540, we began hosting the annual Chesapeake Bunnybots: a district-wide preseason competition designed by our student leaders with a focus on rookie engagement and hands-on experience.

By having new members lead the way with the design, fabrication, and operation of the robot, teams can quickly expose rookies to the world of FRC. Our veteran subteam leaders guide rookies through the process during the preseason, showing them how problems are encountered and solved in real time. We can then confidently place the controllers in our rookies' capable hands on the day of the competition. Through Bunnybots, we improve our team's sustainability and give other local teams an opportunity to do the same.

Rookies

In the past, we found that rookie education was sometimes neglected in favor of veteran projects, which could leave new members unprepared for build season or uninterested in the team. Blair Bunnybots enables these students to learn hand machining, design basics, and other skills that will allow them to succeed during the intense build season.

Veterans

First-year veterans continue to develop technical skills during preseason, with a focus on CAD and the design process (CAD to prototype to final product, including iterations). Bunnybots are programmed by first-year veterans, building on their experience with small projects over the last preseason and build season. This prepares them to program the robot for teleop and autonomous. Our older veterans, who should have developed the design and technical skills they need in previous build seasons and pre/postseasons, should focus on learning to lead, manage projects, and delegate tasks.

Team

By working on a robot in the preseason, the team becomes better equipped to handle the rigor of build season. Team members from different grades and programs get to know one another better, which helps team dynamics. The focus on rookie education has increased retention rates and productivity, improving team sustainability.

Mentors

Blair Bunnybots is also a great way to get mentors engaged in preseason training, since the engineering challenge is more interesting than simple tool training. Mentors and students bond by working together, reducing friction during the build season.