Photo By Patricia Rodriguez | The Metal Jackets, Oxnard High School's team, competed in the For Inspiration and...... read more read more
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The field was Fathomwerx Lab, and the sport was robotics.
There thousands of high school students competed to prove they have what it takes to make the team of next generation NSWC PHD engineers.
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics held two regional competitions at Fathomwerx Lab in the Port of Hueneme during the first two weekends in March. For 52 local and international teams, this was the first step toward a championship competition in Houston, Texas, in April.
NSWC PHD and other local naval organizations sponsored five Ventura County teams with registration, start-up kits and mentor expenses.
Dean Kamen, a New York inventor and entrepreneur, founded FIRST Robotics in 1989 to encourage young people to pursue science and technology with the same enthusiasm as sports and music. He devised a robotics program modeled after high school sporting events.
“There are no quizzes, there are no tests,” Kamen said in a 2019 interview for EdTech Digest. “There are tournaments and there are trophies and there are mascots and there are school bands.”
The statement accurately describes the atmosphere at the Ventura County Regional.
Team Rembrandts from the Netherlands donned neon orange shirts and brought its lion mascot. Nexus, from China, made its competition debut. And the Armathronics15 team from Armenia became rookie all-stars.
Participants mounted their team numbers on poles and swayed to ’80s music. Buttons and keychains were exchanged, and one team, in keeping with this year’s underwater Reefscape theme, wore blinking headgear resembling angler fish. And there were many, many pompoms.
Mentors
Competing in FIRST Robotics is a passion that requires commitment, mentors say.
NSWC PHD Underway Replenishment Test Site Manager Dan Byrd mentors four Ventura County high school teams: Ventura, Pacifica, Rio Mesa and Oxnard.
“These students are truly amazing,” Byrd said. “They devote all their spare time to this because it’s their passion.”
Byrd got into FIRST Robotics with his son, Bob, at Rio Mesa High School. Bob, who also participated in NSWC PHD’s Pre-Engineering Program, attends California State University, Sacramento and is a FIRST team mentor.
For Byrd, the reason to mentor is simple.
“We can’t do this forever,” he said. “These kids are our replacements.”
Byrd added that through competing in FIRST, students develop a solid engineering background.
“These are the kids we’ll recruit in four years,” he said. “That’s why it’s important for Naval Sea Systems Command to be involved.”
Two other command employees also mentored Ventura County teams.
NSWC PHD mechanical engineer Joe Besler works with the Scorps from Adolfo Camarillo High School. The Scorps began competing in 2018 and won the Ventura County Regional in 2019.
NSWC PHD mechanical engineer Sean Jau mentored the newly formed Thunder Vikes from Hueneme High School. This was the team’s first regional competition.
“FIRST Robotics competition got me where I am today,” Jau said. “I used to be in this program as a student, and I understand the incredible impact this program can have on students’ live and futures, even if they end up not pursuing a career directly related to robotics.
“I really want to help kids experience the same thrill that I did when I was their age,” he added.
Many FIRST alumni have gone on to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with the aid of scholarships. A variety of financial aid from companies like military munitions supplier BAE Systems and institutions like Harvey Mudd College is available to FIRST Robotics participants.
Building to task
In January, FIRST teams receive a basic robot kit. They then have six weeks to design, program and practice competition tasks.
This year’s Reefscape underwater theme had robots stacking plastic tubes called coral and shooting inflated balls called algae.
Design and programming skills figure into a team’s success, but the ability to problem solve can prove equally important.
For a local team, Oxnard’s Pacifica High School TriTrons, this skill came in handy. During a match, the team’s robot’s arm faltered and couldn’t lift coral. Before its next bout, the team gathered in the pit to assess the problem. By the time the team was called back to the field, its robot was fully functional and back in the game.
Kimberly Jackson, a member of Ventura Robotics from Ventura High School, joined the team in her senior year. She said she always liked robots, and being on the team helped her decide what to study in college.
“I want to do it all,” Jackson said. “But I’ve decided to study aerospace engineering.”
Jackson said that although her team didn’t rank high in the regionals, the experience strengthened her resolve to study engineering.
Winners, no losers
Unlike traditional high school sports, FIRST Robotics requires additional teamwork.
Three teams form alliances and compete against each other to score points to move to the next level. This year’s competition-winning alliance consisted of two California teams, one from Ventura; the other the Netherlands.
Ventura County teams performed well in the regionals, with two teams ranking among the top five out of 52 for points scored.
Pantherbotics from Newbury Park High School ranked in the top five and won an Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors Co. And HighTide, a Ventura community team, won a Quality Award and an Autonomous Award as well as being a regional winner.
One engineering award sponsored by NASA covers registration fees for the Houston championship, but all other awards garner blue gym banners to display at future competitions.
More than 20 awards are up for grabs for each competition, and several focus on robot performance and engineering. But the FIRST Impact Award is the most prestigious. Beside competition, it considers a team’s positive impact on participants, school and community.
Cerbotics from Mexico and Team Rembrandts from the Netherlands are this year’s regional winners.
The FIRST Impact Award reflects the vision that FIRST Robotics is about more than just building robots. It’s about building teams of engineering athletes who could one day change the world.
| Date Taken: | 04.28.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.28.2025 13:31 |
| Story ID: | 496345 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 31 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Engineering Athletes Take the Field at Ventura County Regional FIRST Robotics Competions, by Patricia Rodriguez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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