About Us
TallyRobotics began in the dining room of Scott and Laura Leonard in 2013 after Laura was unable to find a group for their son, Alan. After finding the FIRST website, Laura suggested that Scott could lead a FIRST LEGO League team made up of students in their homeschool community. After the team competed in their first competition, the Leonards were hooked. By the 2015-2016 season they had two LEGO League teams who both made it to State Championship.
Since then, there has been a TallyRobotics team at State every year. In 2017, they realized they could help the area in Leon County grow if they hosted local tournaments so in February 2018 they formed the non-profit, Tallahassee LEGO Robotics Club, Inc. and hosted their first Qualifying Tournament in the Big Bend Area. That fall, they started a FIRST Tech Challenge team called Legacy and by the Spring of 2019, they were realizing great success with many of their teams. Their Rookie FTC Team was in the top three of their League and went to the Florida FTC State Championship. All 5 LEGO League teams went to Regional Championship. From there, two teams went to State Championship and the Gorillabots, the Regional Champions, went to World Festival in Houston.
Because of that success, TallyRobotics began a partnership with Tallahassee Community College, who has provided space for the growing organization. Even with the struggles of COVID, teams were able to continue to meet and compete in a remote season, then in a hybrid season. In 2021, TallyRobotics adopted the local FIRST Robotics Competition Team formerly at Leon High School. Because of other partnerships they were part of, they were able to get team 6184 placed at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering for the 2022 competition season. That team was able to compete at the Tallahassee Regional in March of 2022.
In the summer of 2022 the organization officially changed its name to TallyRobotics, Inc. to better reflect the full progression of robotics programs they offer to Tallahassee students.
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Happy Kids
Wonderful Volunteers
Robotics Teams
Our Vision
TallyRobotics’ vision is to become the Big Bend Hub for K-12 Robotics Education.
Our Mission
TallyRobotics provides and promotes educational and competitive opportunities for students of all ages in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) through robotics programs in the Big Bend Area of Florida. Through partnerships with local tech companies we will develop pathways to internships, apprenticeships, and jobs following high school, trade school, and/or college.
Values that inform our mission & vision
- Gracious Professionalism & Coopertition
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Mentorship & Empowerment
- Whole Person Approach
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Teamwork
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Access & Inclusion for all
Board of Directors
- Scott Leonard, President, Founder
- Laura Leonard, Executive Director, Founder
- Michelle Rutherford, Founder
- Vance Rutherford, Founder
- Wendy Austin
- Sawyer Schmookler, Treasurer
- Katrina McMillan, Secretary