S[Ti]rling took a bow and headed into robot retirement last weekend as San Marino High School’s Titanium Robotics Team finished the 2016-17 competition season by garnering both the Team Spirit Award and Safety Award at the final event of the year.
“The Spirit Award was given to us because we were the most enthusiastic, the loudest and had the most fun of the teams there, both on and off the field,” said Coach Scott Barton.
S[Ti]rling is the name chosen by the team for the 2016-17 competition robot.
San Marino qualified for the playoffs at the Orange County Regional competition, which was held last weekend in the Bren Events Center at the University of California, Irvine, where they advanced to the playoffs before being eliminated, eventually finishing 28th out of 52 entries in the FIRST Steamworks competition.
Steamworks was a vigorous, industrial revolution-themed challenge that called for some of the team’s hardest work. A portion of the game required the team to transport fuel – whiffle balls – to a boiler and gears to an airship across the field to score.
To prepare for the Orange County Regional, members of the team worked over Spring Break on a new mechanism to improve the robot’s performance and play style as the result of a decision that was agreed upon by the cabinet.
“The new mechanism worked flawlessly,” said Barton. “The mechanism caused our offensive ranking points to be one of the highest in the Regional. Although we ranked 28th overall in team statistics, we were chosen in the first round of the alliance selections. Our alliance eventually lost in the quarterfinals of the championship matches. But at the and of the day, we were presented our first ever Spirit Award.”
For the squad’s initial competition of the season, the team toted S[Ti]rling to Flagstaff, Arizona, where it competed against different teams, but with the same game. Titanium Robotics advanced to the semifinals of the Northern Arizona Regional.
“Overall, their entire season was full of success and we do not plan on slowing down,” said team member Jacob Yee. “We look to take the team even further next year, since no one from the team is leaving for college. Our cabinet this year is all juniors and sophomores, and very few seniors were part of the overall team.”
The team thanked sponsors and supporters for the year, including the Boeing Company, NASA, JPL, the Chinese Club of San Marino, San Marino City Club, the San Marino Tribune, the SMHS PTSA, Tony’s Pizza, and others, such as parents, friends and family members.
