Team Sprocket organizes robotics competition
With the help of an alumnus, Diamond Bar High School’s Team Sprocket was given the opportunity to host a competition for numerous robotics teams from all over Southern California inside the school gymnasium on Feb. 25-26. Hundreds of people attended their For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Tech Competition with a grand total of 60 teams competing within the competition.
With the help of over 200 volunteers, school clubs, faculty, and the community, Team Sprocket managed to successfully hold and organize the First Tech Competition (FTC). Team members and volunteers worked concession stands, cleaned, and helped teams set up their robots and announce the games.
“I assigned roles to volunteers and acted as the main line of communication between the FIRST coordinators and Team Sprocket. And on the day of, I would make sure everyone is on time, at the right place and help volunteers if they had any questions,” junior Ryan Giang said via Instagram. “The most challenging stage of this event was the planning, because our team has never hosted an event like this and only a select few members have volunteered at these competitions.”
According to Giang, this experience allowed Team Sprocket to strengthen its bonds with the local community and the clubs on campus like Printed Works. It also gave them an understanding of how important it is to give back to the community.
“My experience from this was truly one-of-a-kind inspiring and fun experience that I ever had in Team Sprocket. I can most definitely say I am proud of my team and how far we came,” sophomore Kristen Chea said via Instagram. “Everything was going smoothly. FTC teams were having fun. Even our team had fun! It was overall an enjoyable experience that I will never forget.”
The FTC competition is only the beginning of their many competitions that Sprocket plans to attend within the upcoming future. Team Sprocket competed at FIRST Robotics Competitions (FRC), which allows them to build larger and more complex robots than the other FTC competitors.
Since organizing the competition at DBHS, they have further competed within the FIRST series of competitions, performing up to expectations. They competed from March 4-5 at the FIRST Robotics Port Hueneme Regional at Port Hueneme where they placed 11th out of 44 teams. From March 16th to 19th, they competed at the FIRST Los Angeles Regional, where they ranked 19th out of 43 competing teams. Additionally, they would later compete at the FIRST San Diego Regionals the following weekend from March 23rd to 26th. At this competition they would perform much better than the prior weekend, placing ninth out of the 50 teams in attendance.
“Right now, we’re in a good spot with focusing on training new members and having the sophomores work on programming,” senior Duncan Seshiki said.
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