FIRST teams at the 2018 FRC Kick Off at SOFWERX.
In our continuing look at area manufacturers and manufacturing partners in the Tampa Bay area, this week we’re happy to share the story of SOFWERX. While not a manufacturing facility in the traditional sense, SOFWERX manufacturers a wealth of projects in collaboration with government, industry and entrepreneurial interests utilizing a wide array of tools from additive manufacturing to custom machining.
FCDI has worked with SOFWERX for a few years now, and they’re a great friend of local FIRST programs, annually co-hosting 
with FCDI the the Tampa Bay area FIRST Robotics Competition kick off each winter. Not only do they provide a place for area teams to see the live kick off and pick up their kit of parts, but they also provide mentoring support and grants to participating teams. SOFWERX also provides a number of outreach opportunities, like internships where college students can get real world engineering experiences working side by side with SOFWERX engineers and designers, as well as STEM summer camps. SOFWERX is also an AMRoC partner. Read on to learn more about this great organization.
SOFWERX is an unclassified facility where government, labs, industry and academia can collaborate. It serves as a forum for accelerating technologies and innovative ideas for the Special Operations Warfighter by bringing together the brightest minds and divergent thought. SOFWERX is funded 100% through the United States Special Operations Command.
We innovate solutions for the Special Operations Warfighter through our robust ecosystem. SOFWERX has a mechanical engineering space to rapidly produce prototypes in house. We also work a variety of projects ranging from drones to cyber security. All of the projects we work on come directly from the Special Forces Warfighters themselves, based off of their feedback down range. Projects range from submersible jet-skis, to satellites, bow bumpers, drones, and more.
Our ecosystem has a robust group of participants- anyone can join. We have no limitations and we do not charge a fee to join our ecosystem. We simply are looking for people who want to help innovate solutions for the Warfighter with us.
We hold various types of events such as Capability Collaboration Events, Capability Assessment Events, Hackathons, and Expos. They are a tool to help solve Warfighter challenges. Every event held is nominated by Program Executive Offices/Warfighters themselves. TeamWERX, a subset of SOFWERX, is our online prize challenge website designed to find innovative solutions to warfighter problems, using a global, far reaching network.
SOFWERX hosts tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9am and 4pm. If you’re interested in joining us for a tour, we ask that you sign up 48 hours prior at sofwerx.org.