Congratulations to the 47 Teams from California, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Chinese Taipei and the Netherlands PLUS Mentors, Volunteers, Sponsors, Friends and Family members who participated in the 13th Annual San Diego FIRST Robotics Regional Competition presented by Qualcomm, March 6-9, 2019!
ADVANCING TO CHAMPIONSHIPS IN HOUSTON!!!
The following teams and individuals earned top honors at the San Diego Regional and earned their way to compete at the FIRST Championships in Houston in April.
The Chairman’s Award represents the true spirit of FIRST. It honors the team that best serves as a model for other teams to emulate and that embodies the goals of FIRST. It remains FIRST’s most prestigious team award. The Chairman’s Award is presented to the team judged to have the most significant measurable impact of its partnerships among its participants, school, and community over a sustained period, not just a single build season or school year. The winner is able to demonstrate progress towards FIRST’s mission of transforming our culture. The recipient will be invited to the FIRST Championship where it will compete for the Chairman’s Award against the winners from all the other qualifying events.
Here’s what the Judges had to say –
“This team has consistently demonstrated the ideals of FIRST by inspiring teenagers throughout their community to pursue careers in engineering and STEM. They have created an innovation and engineering culture by establishing a women in engineering chapter, starting multiple teams in Title 1 schools, working with politicians to bring about legislative change, and more outreach than we can count. Providing a true model for other FIRST teams to emulate. This innovation culture expanded globally as they provided mentoring, sustainability education, and financial support to teams in other countries with limited resources. Their web of influence may not get them to Hollywood, but they are going to Championships.”
The Engineering Inspiration Award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community. This team will advance to the Championships and receive a $5000 NASA grant toward registration.
Here’s what the judges had to say –
“This team’s impact extends from their school to the world stage. An eighth of their student body is engaged with various FIRST programs. They join with two other local teams to sponsor “Battle at the Border” during the off season. They sponsor FLL and FLL Jr. teams in eastern Europe. Inclusive engagement and empowerment which draws girls into STEM is a total WOW. Their outreach has no boundaries or walls.”
Team 3647, Millennium Falcons – from San Diego, CA Team 6995, NOMAD – from Escondido, CA
Rookie All-Star Award
Team 7626, NLHS – from Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei
This award celebrates a 1st year team demonstrating an early but strong partnership effort, implementing the mission of FIRST. Its winner understands what FIRST is really trying to accomplish and realizes that technical work is fun and challenging, made better by building a partnership among team, community and school. This is not an easy challenge for a rookie team but the judges want to recognize and reward one team that got it right.
Here’s what the judges had to say –
“This team is off to a great start! With their focus on “learning by doing”, they recognize that building a strong, sustainable team is more important than building a robot. They defined goals and objectives, created a thorough business plan, documented their team and engineering processes, and established a team structure organized to support their efforts. In their rookie season, this team has shown all of us their honor and that they will never lose their self-confidence as they smoothly sail into the future.”
Regional Finalist
(advancing to Championships because of 3 wildcards) Team 2839, Daedalus from Escondido
Team 6695, Alpha Knights from San Marcos Team 3245, Ravens from Sandy, UT
Dean’s List Finalist
FIRST Dean’s List Finalist – Ethan Champion from Team 1622, Spyder FIRST Dean’s List Finalist – Farrah Kaiyom from Team 3647, Millennium Falcons
In an effort to recognize the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding FRC students, the Kamen family sponsors an award for selected top students known as the FIRST Dean’s List.
This award celebrates a student’s outstanding leadership and effectiveness in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers, both within their school, as well as their community. FIRST Dean’s List Finalists will compete at the championship for the FIRST Dean’s List.
Woodie Flowers Finalist Award
Todd Parr – Mentor for Team 1622, Spyder
Additional Awards
Congratulations to the Teams and individuals that earned the remaining awards at the San Diego Regional! See the list here.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Women In Stem Event
Sponsored by Viasat
Alumni Mixer
Support
An immense THANK YOU to all the Sponsors who contributed to this very successful Regional with funding, mentors, volunteers and enthusiasm!
Regional Sponsors include Qualcomm Incorporated, Marathon, ViaSat, General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation, Leidos, Hewlett Packard, Booz Allen Hamilton and Solar Turbines.
123EVENTPHOTOGRAPHY:The 2019 San Diego Regional HIGH RESOLUTION Gallery contains high resolution images that should only be used to make prints from. NOTE: The device you are downloading to must have the available memory/storage. They recommend using a desktop computer with an external hard drive or a flash drive. By selecting to download any images, you assume all resulting responsibility.
Please be sure to assign the photo credits on your shared images for the above photographers.
We hope you too had a memorable experience at the San Diego Regional. We’d love to hear your stories. Please consider sharing them with us here in the comments below or on our facebook page. Photo and video links welcome!
Congratulations to the 35 teams from California, Hawaii, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Turkey, Chile and Mexico PLUS all the Mentors, Volunteers, Sponsors, Friends and Family members who participated in the inaugural Del Mar FIRST Robotics Regional, Feb 28-Mar 3, 2019!
ADVANCING TO CHAMPIONSHIPS IN HOUSTON!
The following teams and individuals earned top honors at the Del Mar Regional and earned their way to compete at the FIRST Championships in Houston in April.
The Chairman’s Award represents the true spirit of FIRST. It honors the team that best serves as a model for other teams to emulate and that embodies the goals of FIRST. It remains FIRST’s most prestigious team award. The Chairman’s Award is presented to the team judged to have the most significant measurable impact of its partnerships among its participants, school, and community over a sustained period, not just a single build season or school year. The winner is able to demonstrate progress towards FIRST’s mission of transforming our culture. The recipient will be invited to the FIRST Championship where it will compete for the Chairman’s Award against the winners from all the other qualifying events.
Here’s what the Judges had to say –
“This team has shown a sustained and strong commitment by establishing programs to introduce students of all ages to STEM and FIRST principles. They host multiple events to expose their community and emphasize underserved and under-represented groups. They broaden their horizons and impact through international outreach, but their true passion for FIRST is found closer to the nest.
The key part of this community focus; is to create a strong partnership with their district to support robotics teachers, provide facilities, and teach other teams how to start and grow. This “CORE” focus on their local community shows that FIRST can blossom, thrive, and soar above the desert.”
The Engineering Inspiration Award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community. This team will advance to the Championships and receive a $5000 NASA grant toward registration.
Here’s what the judges had to say –
“This established student led team actively reaches out throughout their community promoting FIRST ideals. From branding FIRST through an annual district wide marketing meeting to inspiring new team members through a customized learning program, they continuously foster FIRST ideals. Developing team members through active mentoring and student led classes allow all their members to achieve their potential. How a team with 35 rookie members can perform at such a top level is a paradox to us.”
This award celebrates a 1st year team demonstrating an early but strong partnership effort, implementing the mission of FIRST. Its winner understands what FIRST is really trying to accomplish and realizes that technical work is fun and challenging, made better by building a partnership among team, community and school. This is not an easy challenge for a rookie team but the judges want to recognize and reward one team that got it right.
Here’s what the judges had to say –
“While it should be no surprise as to who the winner is – we wanted to highlight how strong of a robotic team this is…
One year in, with a crew of 20 mostly sophomores, they have recruited and supported multiple FRC and FLL teams, and their mentor leaves little to chance. May the rest of your inaugural season go as smoothly as this one, as you have qualified to attend the Championships!”
Dean’s List Finalist
FIRST Dean’s List Finalist – Lawrence Chang from Team 8, Paly Robotics
FIRST Dean’s List Finalist – Blake Lieber from Team 2102, Paradox
In an effort to recognize the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding FRC students, the Kamen family sponsors an award for selected top students known as the FIRST Dean’s List.
This award celebrates a student’s outstanding leadership and effectiveness in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers, both within their school, as well as their community. FIRST Dean’s List Finalists will compete at the championship for the FIRST Dean’s List.
Woodie Flowers Finalist Award
Patrick Rambo Vieira – Mentor for Team 7426, Pair of Dice Robotics
Additional Awards
Congratulations to the Teams and individuals that earned the remaining awards at the Del Mar Regional! See the list here.
The 2019 Del Mar Regional HIGH RESOLUTION Gallery contains high resolution images that should only be used to make prints from. NOTE: The device you are downloading to must have the available memory/storage. They recommend using a desktop computer with an external hard drive or a flash drive. By selecting to download any images, you assume all resulting responsibility.
Please be sure to assign the photo credit to @123eventphotography on your shared images.
We hope you too had a memorable time at the Del Mar Regional. We’d love to hear your stories. Please consider sharing them with us here in the comments below or on our facebook page. Photo and video links welcome!
Congratulations to the 50 Teams from California, Colorado, China and the Netherlands PLUS all the Mentors, Volunteers, Sponsors, Friends and Family members who participated in the 4th Annual Orange County FIRST Robotics Regional, Feb 27 – Mar 2, 2019!
ADVANCING TO CHAMPIONSHIPS IN HOUSTON!!!
The following teams and individuals earned top honors at the Orange County Regional and earned their way to compete at the FIRST Championships in Houston in April.
Regional Chairman’s Award
Team 3309, Friarbots from Anaheim, CA
The Chairman’s Award represents the true spirit of FIRST. It honors the team that best serves as a model for other teams to emulate and that embodies the goals of FIRST. It remains FIRST’s most prestigious team award. The Chairman’s Award is presented to the team judged to have the most significant measurable impact of its partnerships among its participants, school, and community over a sustained period, not just a single build season or school year. The winner is able to demonstrate progress towards FIRST’s mission of transforming our culture. The recipient will be invited to the FIRST Championship where it will compete for the Chairman’s Award against the winners from all the other qualifying events.
What the judges had to say …
“They fuel the mission of FIRST into Deep Space with cost free STEM outreach activities. They make a deep impact on the FIRST community by hosting events for teams from galaxies far, far away. This team also lights the way for the future with “out of this world” summer camps and Battleship Blast.”
Engineering Inspiration
Team 4481, Team Rembrandts from Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
The Engineering Inspiration Award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community. This team will advance to the Championships and receive a $5000 NASA grant toward registration.
What the judges had to say …
“This team brings energy and happiness as they work with alliance partners to support teams within FIRST and hold mind blowing outreach events and SolidWorks tutorials. This team inspires FLL, FTC and FRC, all levels of FIRST, to blast off with passion for STEM. They fuel the mission of engineering with youth inspiring youth and support for a round the clock call center. If things get complicated, bring in the Dutch.
Regional Winners
Team 330, The Beach Bots from Hermosa Beach, CA Team 973, Greybots from Atascadero, CA Team 597, The Wolverines from Los Angeles, CA
Rookie All-Star Award
Team 7447, Ronin Robotics from Irvine, CA
This award celebrates a 1st year team demonstrating an early but strong partnership effort, implementing the mission of FIRST. Its winner understands what FIRST is really trying to accomplish and realizes that technical work is fun and challenging, made better by building a partnership among team, community and school. This is not an easy challenge for a rookie team but the judges want to recognize and reward one team that got it right.
What the judges had to say …
“In the midst of creating their very own robot they have committed a generous amount of community service directly related to middle school robotics programs. By combining forces with tech, innovation and programming they have become bulldogs for inspiring others. These samurai inspire students to pursue an education and career in STEM.”
Regional Finalists
(Advancing to Championships because of 3 Wild Cards) Team 4079, Quantum Leap from Cypress, CA Team 4276, Surf City Vikings from Huntington Beach, CA Team 5805, SMbly Required from Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Dean’s List Finalist
FIRST Dean’s List Finalist – Adrian Machado from Team 3309, Friarbots FIRST Dean’s List Finalist – Marc Anthony Maciel from Team 7157, μBotics
In an effort to recognize the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding FRC students, the Kamen family sponsors an award for selected top students known as the FIRST Dean’s List.
This award celebrates a student’s outstanding leadership and effectiveness in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers, both within their school, as well as their community. FIRST Dean’s List Finalists will compete at the championship for the FIRST Dean’s List.
Woodie Flowers Finalist Award
Shaoni Bandyopadhyay – Mentor for Team 812, The Midnight Mechanics
Additional Awards
Congratulations to the Teams and individuals that earned the remaining awards at the Orange County Regional! See the list here.
Support
An immense THANK YOU to all the Sponsors who contributed to this very successful Regional with funding, mentors, volunteers and enthusiasm! Regional Sponsors include PWC, Marathon, Walt Disney Imagineering, Applied Medical, Southern California Edison, Boeing, Comcast, Coxs, First American, Hewlett Packard.
We hope you too had a memorable experience at the Orange County Regional. We’d love to hear your stories. Please consider sharing them with us here in the comments below or on our facebook page. Photo and video links welcome!
In March, LEGOLAND California was host to 2 separate FIRST LEGO League events.
Spring Showdown – 3/16-3/17
With the regular FIRST LEGO League season wrapped up, LEGOLAND® California played host to the 11th annual Spring Showdown last month. Spring Showdown is an event specific to LEGOLAND California that began as an effort to keep FIRST LEGO League teams interested in robotics year round. Using current FIRST LEGO League board and repurposing the mission models to a new theme, Spring Showdown is a way to get FIRST LEGO League teams thinking outside the box while challenging them. This year’s Spring Showdown theme was Robots of Tomorrow. The premise: complete the missions of the past to save the future of LEGOs. Taking from the FIRST Robotics Competition playbook of alliance partners, the “On the Spot” challenge is a part of the competition where teams are assigned to work with two other teams, “alliance partners”, to complete a series of missions they have never seen before. Partners are given 90 minutes to work together before they compete. Many thanks to Paul Kass, the creator and director for this event and has been a part of FIRST LEGO League for 16 years!
FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. International Open Expo – 3/29-3/31
Thirty FIRST LEGO League Jr teams from across the US and around the world took over LEGOLAND California for the 2nd annual FIRST LEGO League Jr International Expo. Teams came from United States, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Egypt, Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria and Costa Rica. This event introduces our youngest teams to educational travel, new cultural experiences, and a chance to bond with other children who are also beginning their journey of engagement with FIRST. The Open Expo experience enhances the camaraderie, learning, fun, and cultural sharing of FIRST, and provides teams an opportunity to showcase their work and learn from each other in a fun, unique, exciting and supportive venue.
A HUGE thank you to all the volunteers that help make these exciting and complex events fun and successful!
Raytheon has been involved with FIRST since 2004, supporting regional competitions, robotics teams with sponsorships and mentor programs as well as providing scholarship opportunities to FIRST students. For the 2018-2019 season, Raytheon will support more than 40 teams in California and many more throughout the U.S., with Raytheon employees acting as coaches, mentors, designers and general volunteers to teams.
EMPLOYEES WHO CARE
This season, Raytheon employees will contribute more than 8,000 hours volunteering and mentoring students on robotics teams in California alone! Fazlul Zubair, Raytheon employee and dedicated FIRST mentor and volunteer, was able to spare a few moments out of his busy schedule leading up to the Los Angeles Regional to give us a first-hand look into his experience. As theDepartment Manager in the System Integration and Test Center at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, Fazlul first volunteered at a FIRST event 8 years ago, loved the experience and has been heavily involved ever since. Each year he logs over 1200 hours in support of various FIRST events and is currently a mentor for Team 4201, The Vitruvian Bots and Team 6904, The TeraWatts. During build and competition season he drops by the school after work on Tuesday’s and Friday’s, and spends Saturday and Sunday with the team. In addition to mentoring, he also is a member of the Los Angeles Regional planning committee and serves as the Head Referee for FIRST Lego League in the Los Angeles Region.
We captured the above photo of Fazlul with his wife, Shahnaz, as her team was getting ready for their next match in the quarter finals at the San Diego Regional competition. Shahnaz was inspired to start her own team after watching and working with Fazlul’s team for so many years. Yes – FIRST is a family affair! We asked him to tell us about the most rewarding part of being involved in FIRST and he shared that it’s,
“Hiring these talented students to work at Raytheon and on my programs. I have also developed as an engineer, learning new skills such as CAD, programming, and machining. Working with high school students to form a team also helps make me a better leader at Raytheon.”
And like so many others in FIRST, he knows first-hand that it’s more than just the robots. Fazlul shared this story about how he sees FIRST changing lives.
“Students come into FIRST with other career plans, then after a season decide to go into STEM fields. I have seen this over and over again. The best example is our Systems Director. She started high school with the intention to be an English teacher, and now she wants to work in STEM, then come back and teach engineering to the next generation!”
Participating in FIRST comes with many great stories, so we asked Fazlul to tell us about one of his favorite and this is what he told us.
“My favorite thing to do at FIRST is to be around a robot in production, turning to a new student and saying “could you give me a hand?” The look of confusion, uncertainty, and doubt starts creeping in and I can see the wheels turning in their mind. They are thinking, “I don’t know how to do that”, or “I haven’t used tools before”, or “What if I get something wrong?”. This is even more the case when female students are involved due to the STEM equity gap between genders. Once the student gets past the initial apprehension, I enjoy seeing their confidence grow. Soon, they are encouraging and showing others how to get involved.”
There is no doubt that this kind of commitment from mentors and volunteers can involve a time and energy commitment, so we asked Fazlul why he continues to come back year after year. He said he does it
“to inspire the next generation and bring more kids into STEM. I love to work to help make FIRST accessible to more communities to ensure we give everyone the chance to “go pro” in STEM.”
Congrats to their team, TeraWatts, for earning the Judges Award at the San Diego Regional last weekend!
This season, Raytheon employees will contribute more than 8,000 hours volunteering and mentoring students on robotics teams in California alone!
NARROWING THE GENDER GAP
In an ongoing effort to narrow the gender gap and increase diversity in the workplace, Raytheon began hosting a Women in STEM event at the Los Angeles Regional in 2017. They then grew the event to a highly successful Women in STEM Speed Mentoring event for over 100 young women in 2018. The event encouraged them to tackle the challenge of diversity in STEM by becoming a future scientist, engineer or programmer. Nine Raytheon women engineers shared important lessons about making it in a field where women are often underrepresented.
This year, their Women In Stem event will be open to female FIRST team members and mentors at the Los Angeles Regional AND to female SciFest attendees. 2019 Women In Stem sponsored by Raytheon March 23, 2019: 12:30 P.M. to 1:30 P.M
Los Angeles Convention Center
Room 408 on the 2nd Level Concourse. Come hear from high profile women who are space engineers and leaders as they describe for you the amazing and innovative technologies they work on every day. Hear about their innovative jobs, career journeys, and overcoming strategies in the workplace. Ask them your most pressing questions during an interactive Q&A.
$40,000 IN SCHOLARSHIPS
Raytheon also annually awards $1,000 FIRST Scholarships to 40 high school seniors and college students who participate in the competition and pursue undergraduate education as STEM majors.
Raytheon’s on-going commitment to FIRST is helping to cultivate valuable STEM skills that create sustainable careers for future innovators. We are so thankful for their dynamic and generous sponsorship.
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With the regular FIRST LEGO League season wrapped up, LEGOLAND® California played host to the 11th annual Spring Showdown last month. Spring Showdown is an event specific to LEGOLAND California that began as an effort to keep FIRST LEGO League teams interested in robotics year round. 
This year’s Spring Showdown theme was Robots of Tomorrow. 
