Gearing Up for Robotics Competition

On a chilly Monday evening, the sound of excited conversation spills out from the Dos Pueblos High School cafeteria, where the seniors of the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy have gathered with their mentors to have dinner.

Now in its sixth year, the award-winning Team 1717 comes to the conclusion of its pre-season preparations for the FIRST Robotics build-season, which begins in January. Local industry members have stepped forward to help the students prior to and during the robot build-season. These industry mentors include several mechanical engineers from Allergan Corporation, a local medical device company, professional machinists from companies such as Las Cumbres Observatory, software engineers from Lockheed Martin and FLIR Systems, Inc., and DPEA alumni.

One of the student groups is dedicated to learning Solidworks, a CAD (computer-aided design) software program used to design parts for the robot. During each of the Monday night practices, four mechanical engineers from Allergan teach the team how to use Solidworks by showing them new design techniques and assigning them increasingly complex assignments to complete. Over 400 hours of their personal time has been donated.