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Dos Pueblos’ Robots Finish Strong

By Don Gilman | Posted on 04/22/2008

The high school's robotics team comes in second in its division at world championships.

The Dos Pueblos High School Engineering Academy‘s Robotics Team scored big in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition international championships over the weekend at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

The team came in second in its division, losing only to the team that went on to capture the overall title. There were 86 teams in the division from all over the world, including Israel and Canada. There were 340 teams in the competition.

Student teams built their robots from a kit of hundreds of parts. This year’s game, called "FIRST Overdrive," tested students and their robots’ ability to race around a track, knock down 40" inflatable trackballs and move them around the track, passing them over or under a 6-foot-6 overpass.

All told, researching, developing and building the robot cost around $13,000, which was covered by and large by the team’s nine local sponsors: Afar Communications, ATK, Flir Systems, Impulse Internet Services, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT), National Security Technologies, Raytheon, Renco and Valley Precision Products.

This year’s Team 1717 members are Alex Adams, Meha Agrawal, Daniel Barrett, Erika Bildsten, Will Campbell, Kevin Cheng, Scott Cook, Kieran Dunne, Sahar El Abbadi, Erika Eskenazi, Omar Gonzalez, Val Harbunou, Ricky Hayes, Jasper Jacobs, Wei Jiang, Trevor Johnson, Robert Kim, Matt Logan, Stephen MacFarlane, Scott Martinis, Joseph McDaniel, Zak McFarland, James McKinny, Michael Reveles, Sam Ridgeway, J.R. Riggs, Nico Ruvalcaba, Natalie Schauser, Melody Tan, Daniel Turvey, Wei Wu and Xuyang Zhang.

Click here for information on how you can support the program through the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy Foundation.