With the start of the new year, while most seniors drift off into lethargy or “senioritis,” a group of 32 seniors crank into gear to the moment they have been looking forward to since their freshman year.
Every year since 2006, Dos Pueblos High School has been a part of the international competition called FIRST Robotics. Dos Pueblos High School’s Team 1717, since 2008, has been qualified to go to nationals.
This year, with the construction of an entire building devoted to the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy, the D’Penguineers of 2012 hope to keep this tradition going. This is the first year in which the senior class gets a large building — filled with new machines and high-tech devices to aid their efforts into this year’s build season.
Shandeep Ahdi, a senior member of Team 1717 this year, says the new facilities will aid the team as they begin the “build” season.
“With the new building, the space and amount of equipment should allow us to construct more prototypes in a rapid and efficient manner,” Ahdi said. “The new building does not ensure us a guaranteed win; however, it should allow us to complete the parts at a faster rate as well as practice with our prototypes.”
This Saturday is imperative in determining how the entire robotics season will flow. Students watch an approximately three-minute game clip that goes through the rules, objectives and restrictions. Based on these three miniscule minutes, teams around the world have just six weeks to design, prototype and implement a robot that performs a set of actions that correlate with the game.
“I honestly can’t say for sure what the game will be,” Ahdi said. “The dean of FIRST has sent out clues of a list of parts as well as the Kinnect system, and it is still difficult for me to say what the game will be this year.”
In previous years, robotics games have ranged from placing inner tubes on a spinning rack in the center of the playing field to moving on a slippery moonlike surface and throwing balls into the opposing team’s baskets.
Usually, FIRST Robotics creates games with alliances to make the competitions more enjoyable. It effectively encourages the teamwork aspect of engineering.
The season is almost here, and the pressure is on for Team 1717 to work together and keep the tradition of getting to the international competition.
And though Ahdi knows the next few weeks will require lots of late nights and stress, she feels the team is ready after preparing throughout the fall.
“We have worked hard on small projects to prepare us for the robotics competition, and although it was a struggle at first, we were able to complete our project and have it functioning,” she said.
For Ahdi, the success of past teams is not a source of pressure. In fact, she feels the team is ready for the challenge.
“I definitely believe we can keep the tradition going,” she said.
— Malika Agrawal is a Dos Pueblos High School student and Charger Account staff writer.
Comments
