News

Monday, April 23, 2012

DPEA Team 1717 Heading to FIRST World Championships

The Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy’s Team 1717 are heading to St. Louis this Wednesday to compete in the FIRST Robotics World Championship in St. Louis, MO. This following their first place finishes at the Los Angeles and Central Valley regional competitions.

According to the team’s news release, “This year marks the sixth time out of the Engineering Academy’s seven years of participation in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) that Team 1717 has advanced to the championship round. Because the team is composed exclusively of seniors, however, this is a totally new experience for the 32 students who will be in St. Louis operating the robot, performing maintenance, scouting potential alliance members, and cheering in the stands of the Edward Jones Dome.

“Teams in the competition have only six weeks to design, build, and test before they must stop work on the robot. This “build season” was a race against the clock -- even with four days left to go until their midnight deadline, the D’Penguineers were still drawing up the frame design. However, the team was able to build an identical practice robot alongside their competition entry with which they could spend an extra three weeks improving mechanisms and practicing maneuvering on a full-size court.