News

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Dos Pueblos High School’s Engineering Academy Robotics Team 1717 Wins the Sacramento First Regional Competition and Heads to the International Championship in Atlanta on Wednesday Morning

Team 1717, the 31-student Dos Pueblos High School Robotics team, won the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) regional robotics competition in Sacramento on March 28. The team was undefeated during the two-day event, where 42 robots competed, winning 15 matches in all. Two weeks earlier, Team 1717 was the finalist, taking second place at the Los Angeles regional competition. The next step is the international championship in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 16–18, 2009, where Team 1717 will compete with the best robots from around the world. The teams will also be judged on design, technology, sportsmanship and commitment to FIRST. Team 1717 heads to Atlanta on Wednesday morning, April 15, 2009.

The official name of the DP robotics team is Team 1717, since it was the 1,717th team to register with FIRST. The team is also known as the D’Penguineers, the name was derived as a contraction of DP Engineers. And the 150-pound robot is affectionately called the Penguinbot.

The Penguinbot was constructed by the Engineering Academy students during the six-week build season, which began on January 3. The competition challenge is a game designed by FIRST that is a surprise every year. This year’s game, “Lunacy”, requires the robot to throw balls into moving baskets, towed by other robots, while traveling on a slippery surface designed to mimic the low-gravity condition of the moon. The game is complicated by the presence of human “payload specialists” who are also throwing balls into the baskets.

While in Los Angeles, Team 1717 won the prestigious General Motors Industrial Design Award, which “celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine that effectively achieves the game challenge”. This prize recognizes the best robot design at the competition. At the Sacramento event, Team 1717 received the Motorola Quality Award, which “celebrates machine robustness in concept and fabrication.” This prize recognizes the best robot construction. The Motorola and the General Motors prizes together are wonderful bookends for the team’s season!

Academy Director Amir Abo-Shaeer said, “It has really been an amazing experience. Each year when the new game challenge is introduced, our team works to design and build a robot that we believe will best achieve the goals of the game. Through hard work and dedication, the students learn that they can work toward the tangible goal of building a great machine. Whether we win or not, the students are always proud of our creation and this is what it's really all about. While we hope that building the best robot we can will lead to success on the playing field, it is never guaranteed because the competitions have so many elements that are out of our control. It is very special when everything aligns just right and we are able to walk away from the competition with both a great robot and a win.”

Good luck D’Penguineers!