In our earliest ever season event, Team 5171 made a great showing at the Sacramento Regional FIRST Robotics Competition. We finished qualifications ranked 14 (out of 34), and we were the first pick to play on Alliance 8 in the playoffs (with captains 8768 CTEC Titans, and second pick 972 Iron Claw). Our robot, Mantis, was consistent, solid, and reliable, and we made remarkable growth as a team over the course of the three-day competition in terms of strategy and on-field gameplay. With only five team members present, we received major kudos from many teams for what we were able to accomplish. And on top of that, one of our team members tried out for and was selected to sing the national anthem at the opening ceremony on Monday, and another was shuttling from robot competition to the California State Poetry Out Loud competition also held in Sacramento. Needless to say we were very busy! Three weeks later, at the East Bay Regional (the last ever California Regional event before shifting to a District model), we were poised to make a big run in the playoffs as Alliance 4 (with captains 6238 Popcorn Penguins, and first pick 766 MA Bears). In an exciting first match against Alliance 5 we fought back from a big deficit after our entire alliance suffered catastrophic autonomous outcomes. Then we gave the top-seeded alliance a solid match but ultimately ended up in the lower bracket where we continued to progress until facing Alliance 2. The match was ours for the taking but we were not able to close out the endgame to continue our run. At the end of the season we were recognized by California Assemblymember Dawn Addis for promoting STEM in the local community! It was quite the honor to show her what we do.

This year’s team picked up the pieces from last year’s fall from glory. Significant efforts from team leaders led Team 5171 to our most successful finish ever, and they also contributed to the success of our other local teams, like Team 4255 Robodores from Monterey. In fact, our captain was recognized by Team 4255 and awarded for his Gracious Professionalism. A second member of Team 5171 was recognized for their Gracious Professionalism, too! The Pit Admin boss—the person responsible for managing the needs and logistics of all teams—recognized one of our students “for being just so darn nice and making my day at [the Monterey Bay Regional] and [Silicon Valley Regional].” Gracious professionals… there is no better term to describe every member of Team 5171. We achieved something no version of the team had done prior to this year: we made it all the way to the finals of a regional event! (Not to mention it was one of the more competitive regionals in the country.) After finishing qualification matches at Silicon Valley ranked 15th out of 59 teams, we were invited to join Alliance 3 with Team 604 Quixilver from Leland High and Team 972 Iron Claw from Los Gatos; we formed a promising alliance of highly functional and complementary robots, great communicators, and cohesive personalities. Despite losing our first playoff match, we fought our way all the way through the lower bracket and into the finals where our drama-filled and exciting run eventually came to an end. Next year!

Though competitions were canceled and we did not compete in the virtual FRC At Home Challenges during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, we invested a lot of time meeting virtually to train new members by introducing them to all aspects of robot design and the principles of FIRST. Student leaders created an entire robotics curriculum to engage new members during a year of online learning.

The 2018 season was the first time we got to experience what it means to be a strong player on the field, often carrying our alliance partners and taking on the most complicated tasks in the game. At the end of the 2018 season, we elected a head captain and created an organizational structure with various subteams. This new structure offered experienced students the chance to become teachers as they facilitated the training of new members through peer-to-peer sharing of knowledge.

Coming soon!

Deus Ex Machina, Team 5171, is founded by a group of York students, the school’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team. Thanks to the mentorship of Team 2035, Robo Rockin' Bots, our team went on to win the Rookie All-Star Award at the Silicon Valley Regional and advanced to the international championship in St. Louis, Missouri.