The Indianola Robotics Team is FIRST® Tech Challenge Team 8938, the Octobots. High school students from Indianola, Iowa design, build, and program a competition robot every season.
About the team
We were re-founded in 2024 and are open to Indianola students in grades 9–12. In our first season back we were the only rookie team in Iowa to qualify for the State Championship. In 2025–26 we finished 5th in the Iowa Championship, Black Division.
Students run the team. They handle design, building, programming, driving, outreach, and the engineering notebook. Adult mentors coach and keep everyone safe.
We usually practice Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at our practice facility. Practices are not open to the public, but our competitions and outreach events are.
A school-affiliated independent team
We are an independent team, not a school-run program. Indianola High School recognizes us as a club and provides our practice space, and we are grateful for it.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit
The team is a registered 501(c)(3). We get no money from the school district, the state, or the city. Sponsors and families fund everything, and gifts are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
Team 8938
Our FIRST team number is 8938. Look for it on the robot, on our pit, and on the scoreboard at every meet.
About FIRST® Tech Challenge
FIRST is a global nonprofit founded in 1989 to get young people excited about science and technology. FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is its program for students in grades 7–12. About 109,000 students on teams in 81 countries took part in the 2024–25 season.
Each September FIRST reveals a new game. Teams then have a few months to design, build, and program a robot to play it. Robots compete two-on-two in alliances on a 12-foot-square field. A match starts with a 30-second autonomous period, where the robot runs on its own code, then two minutes of driver control.
League meets
Iowa teams play in leagues of about 20 teams. Several meets through the fall and winter build a league ranking.
League tournament
The season’s league play ends with a tournament. Robot performance, judged awards, and the engineering notebook all count toward advancing.
Iowa Championship and beyond
Top teams advance to the Iowa Championship. From there, a few teams go on to the FIRST Championship against teams from around the world.
More than the robot
Teams keep an engineering notebook, do outreach in their community, and practice “Gracious Professionalism,” FIRST’s term for competing hard while helping other teams.
FIRST alumni are eligible for scholarships from colleges and companies across the country, and 61% of FIRST alumni declare a major in engineering or computer science by their fourth year of college.