Dos Pueblos High Robotics Team Having a Ball

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By Barbara Keyani

After winning back-to-back regional titles, Team 1717 has designs on an international championship next month.

Known as Robotics Team 1717, the 32-student Dos Pueblos High Engineering Academy‘s Robotics Team won the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition regional challenge in Los Angeles last weekend and will be competing in the international championship next month in Atlanta.

Team 1717’s win came on the heels of its victory two weeks ago at the San Diego regional challenge, putting the team in the rare position of winning two back-to-back regionals. Competing against the world’s best at the international championship April 17-19, Team 1717 will be judged on design, technology, sportsmanship and commitment to FIRST.

“We are really excited that within three years, which is a very short timeframe in a program such as this, we have been able to take the program to heights that we could not have originally imagined” said academy director Amir Abo-Shaeer.

"I am very proud of our students as this is a reflection of their efforts and hard work. This experience is not about the awards, it is about the process of design, creation, and fueling a love of engineering and science that our students come away with.”

The star of the team is a lean, mean 150-pound robot, constructed by the students during a six-week build session. The competition involves a common set of game rules that are a surprise every year. This year, the robot had to have the ability to remove 40-inch diameter balls from an overpass almost seven feet tall, drive along a prescribed path, and maneuver the balls into position with each pass under or over the underpass on each lap. No small feat.

The official group name is Robotics Team 1717 because it was the 1,717th FIRST team to register when the Dos Pueblos academy was established. Unofficially, the team’s “fun name” has been the D’Penguineers. The image is reinforced during the annual design phase when the budding student engineers add white accents to the team’s black robot.

Robotics competition is an exciting challenge, as reflected in the words of Dos Pueblos student Erika Eskenazi, who worked on systems engineering.

“The atmosphere has such a positive spirit and all of the teams unite and work together to push forward the concept that engineering is fun and a cutting-edge field to be part of,” she said.

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.

The Dos Pueblos High Engineering Academy was launched in 2002. The academy’s four-year integrated course of study offers classes in physics, computer science and engineering design. The hands-on curriculum culminates in the construction of a robot during the senior year. Every senior has a specific role in the six-week build session, during which the combination of academics and technical innovation gives students the competitive edge and mastery of the skills necessary to enter the workforce and pursue post-secondary education.

This year, the program received invaluable support from the Santa Barbara County Education Office Regional Occupational Program, or ROP, which now offers FIRST Robotics Design, Programming and Manufacturing.

“ROP takes pride in offering new and emerging career technical educational pathway courses as the opportunity arises in our local high schools,” said Marilyn Lake, ROP coordinator.

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

Barbara Keyani is the Santa Barbara School Districts‘ special projects and communication director.

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