The forerunners of a generation synonymous with technology, Diamond Bar High School’s Robotics Team, Team 3473, “Sprocket” qualified for the international level, FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), and achieved the prestigious Blue Banner award for the first time in its six years in DBHS’s history of the program. The team traveled to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas earlier last month from April 17-20, where they competed against more than 600 high school robotics teams worldwide.
Preparations for the traditional FRC competitions were underway long before the robotics season started in spring. Over both academic semesters this year, Team Sprocket members collaborated to build, program and publicize their competitive robot almost every night after school.
The robot was designed for FRC’s traditional event, a mech-based basketball competition. In each match, team members control their robot to shoot large balls into specified goals in a 3 v 3 style.
“I made sure that our robot was in the best shape that it could be, working late nights with the rest of the team,” senior engineering captain Luke Zhu said.
The team first qualified this year when they earned the Engineering Inspiration Award at their first annual competition, the Port Hueneme Regional. The award celebrated their efforts in promoting local appreciation for engineering and offered qualifications and a grant to FRC Worlds. Last year, for example, the team had distributed tens of 3D printers to LA middle schools to spread STEM.
“There were multiple years of work leading up to it to show that our team had a history of being able to perform outreach and help out the local or wider community,” senior operations member Ryan Wang said. “Our team was anxious, but hearing the team name being called out in the crowd, we all jumped out of the bleachers and ran down, celebrating.”
After a few revisions to their competitive machine, Team 3473 qualified for the worldwide robotics event for a second time at the LA Regional, where they achieved the prestigious Blue Banner Impact Award, a symbol of recognition for the great impact they had made on the LA community. At their final regional competition before FRC Worlds this year, Diamond Bar High’s Team Sprocket placed in the semifinals.
“Qualifying for worlds in our first regional allowed us to give [our underclassmen members] some experience with designing and building the robot,” Zhu said. “Our second regional also gave the newer members the opportunity to learn about manufacturing and design, and also the ins and outs of a regional competition.”
During the competition, Team 3473 was placed to compete in one of the eight divisions, Newton, using the traditional FRC game style. After the winners emerged from each of their divisions, they would pit their bots against one another to decide the world champion team. Team Sprocket not only returned from their fight at FRC Worlds by placing 56th out of 745 teams in their division, but also managed to gain professional and social connections from around the world as a product of the fierce competition.
“We were pleased with our performance as our bot was able to accomplish the tasks we designed it to perform,” Zhu said. “Our team was extremely enthusiastic and everyone enjoyed spending time with their friends and with their new friends from other teams.”
