Jump to content

Student-Built Robots Clash at Competition Supported by NASA-JPL


Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
Posted

Hand-crafted robots, constructed over the past two months by 44 high school teams, duked it out at the FIRST Robotics Los Angeles regional competition.

Student-made contraptions of a metal and a little magic battled each other in front of cheering and dancing high schoolers at the annual Los Angeles regional FIRST Robotics Competition over the weekend, an event supported by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Of the 44 participating teams, five triumphed, earning the chance to compete this April at the FIRST international championship tournament in Houston.

The raucous event at the Da Vinci Schools campus in El Segundo saw six 125-pound robots racing around the playing field during each 2 ½-minute match as pounding music filled the room and a live announcer narrated the action. Working in alliances of three teams on each side, the robots jockeyed for position and banged into each other, using a variety of mechanical devices to retrieve large, foam rings from the floor and launch them into two target chutes. In the final seconds of each round, the bots could earn extra points by hoisting themselves off the ground to dangle from a metal chain.

“The energy in the room was amazing this year,” said Kim Lievense, the manager of JPL’s Public Services Office, who coordinates some 100 volunteers for the event every year. “These teams and their bots really left it all on the field, and it was so great to be there to see it yet again.”

The 24th year for this L.A.-area competition, the event is one of many under the umbrella of the nonprofit FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), which pairs students with STEM professionals. The competitions give students hands-on experience with engineering and problem-solving, team-building, fundraising, and other business skills.

Teams receive the rules of the game – titled “Crescendo” this year and themed around arts and entertainment – in January. Using FIRST’s technical specifications, students have just weeks to design, build, and test their robots, devoting hours after school and on weekends to the project.

“There were a lot of really impressive robots, and students, this year. The engineering, the manufacturing, the programming in the software these kids are writing – it’s quite complex,” said Julie Townsend, one of three event judges from JPL. She has been volunteering with FIRST for nearly 20 years as a judge and coach and is JPL’s point of contact for the NASA Robotics Alliance Project, which supports NASA “house” youth robotics teams across the country.

“Without these programs like FIRST, high school students don’t have the opportunity to do this kind of engineering,” Townsend added. “It’s hard, but they eventually get to experience the joy of a functioning system that you designed. You failed 16 times and then you get to see it work flawlessly.”

In the end, the winning alliance joined together a team from Hawaii with two Southern California teams: Team 368 (“Team Kika Mana”) of McKinley High School in Honolulu, Team 9408 (“Warbots”) of Warren High in Downey, and Team 980 (“ThunderBots”) of Burbank and Burroughs high schools in Burbank, which is a NASA house team supported by JPL.

Two other L.A.-area teams won awards that mean they’ll get to compete in Houston as well: Team 687 (“The Nerd Herd”) of California Academy of Math and Science in Carson, and Team 3473 (“Team Sprocket”) of Diamond Bar High.

For more information about the FIRST Los Angeles regional, visit:

https://cafirst.org/frc/losangeles/

News Media Contact

Melissa Pamer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-314-4928
melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov

2024-028

Share

Details

Last Updated
Mar 18, 2024

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By NASA
      The commercial aviation industry is a crucial component of the U.S. economy, playing a vital role in transporting people, intermediate/final goods, and driving demand for various goods and services nationwide. This network enhances the quality of life for the whole country and facilitates business interactions within and globally, boosting productivity and prosperity. However, the industry faces numerous challenges, particularly the need to reduce rising operational costs in a growing market to accommodate increased demand in air travel, e-commerce, and cargo sectors. Issues such as aging aircraft and components, technological advancements, and staffing shortages further complicate these challenges, hindering efforts to balance passenger safety with operational efficiency. To address these challenges, the industry needs to swiftly innovate and implement more efficient and resilient aircraft maintenance practices, including the adoption of new technologies. In the 2026 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition, teams will conceptualize novel aviation maintenance advancements that can be implemented by 2035 or sooner with the goal of improving efficiency, safety, and/or costs for the industry. Teams are encouraged to consider high-potential technologies and systems that aren’t currently mainstream or highly regarded as becoming mainstream in the future, imagining beyond the status quo.
      Award: $72,000 in total prizes
      Open Date: Phase 1 – September 18, 2025; Phase 2 – March 13, 2026
      Close Date: Phase 1 – February 16, 2026; Phase 2- May 15, 2026
      For more information, visit: https://blueskies.nianet.org/competition/
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      National Institute of Aerospace NASA is calling on the next generation of collegiate innovators to imagine bold new concepts l pushing the boundaries of human exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond through the 2026 NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The RASC-AL challenge fuels innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping by bridging gaps through university engagement with NASA and industry. The competition is seeking U.S.-based undergraduate and graduate-level teams and their faculty advisors to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon and Mars. This year’s themes range from developing systems and technologies to support exploration of the lunar surface, to enhancing humanity’s ability to operate and return data from the surface of Mars.  
      Award: $112,000 in total prizes
      Open Date: August 13, 2025
      Close Date: February 23, 2026
      For more information, visit:  https://rascal.nianet.org/
      View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      Image: This summer, a team of robots explored a simulated martian landscape in Germany, remotely guided by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. This marked the fourth and final session of the Surface Avatar experiment, a collaboration between ESA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to develop how astronauts can control robotic teams to perform complex tasks on the Moon and Mars.
      The session introduced new levels of autonomy and complexity. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim operated two robots – ESA’s four-legged Spot and DLR’s humanoid Rollin’ Justin – to retrieve scattered sample containers and deliver them to a lander. Spot navigated the terrain autonomously, while Justin was guided through a mix of direct control and pre-set commands. This setup allowed Jonny to delegate tasks and focus on higher-level decisions, building on other sessions where robots required full teleoperation.
      In a second scenario, ESA’s Interact rover transported DLR’s robot dog Bert to a cave entrance. After removing a boulder, Jonny deployed Bert, which then simulated a malfunction in one of its legs. Jonny had to retrain Bert’s walking algorithm in real time before it continued into the cave and detected signs of martian ice. This tested how operators respond to unexpected challenges and adapt robotic systems on the fly.
      The robots are controlled from the International Space Station using a custom-built interface developed by ESA and DLR, combining a joystick and a haptic-feedback device. The interface allows switching between first-person view for immersive teleoperation and a top-down map for broader mission oversight. This flexibility lets the astronaut manage multiple robots efficiently, balancing direct control with strategic delegation.
      Over four sessions, the Surface Avatar team has refined its approach to human-robot interaction, improving both teleoperation and task delegation to autonomous systems. The experiment has also helped to identify which tasks astronauts prefer to control directly and which can be safely handed over to robotic systems, offering valuable insight for future mission planning.
      Read our blog to find out more.
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      3 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      By Beth Ridgeway 
      NASA’s Student Launch competition celebrated its 25th anniversary on May 4, just north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, bringing together more than 980 middle school, high school, college, and university students from across the U.S. to showcase and launch their high-powered rocketry designs.
      The event marked the conclusion of the nine-month challenge where teams designed, built, and launched more than 50 rockets carrying scientific payloads—trying to achieve altitudes between 4,000 and 6,000 feet before executing a successful landing and payload mission.
      “This is really about mirroring the NASA engineering design process,” Kevin McGhaw, director of NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement Southeast Region, said. “It gives students hands-on experience not only in building and designing hardware, but in the review and testing process.  We are helping to prepare and inspire students to get out of classroom and into the aerospace industry as a capable and energizing part of our future workforce.”
      NASA announced James Madison University as the overall winner of the agency’s 2025 Student Launch challenge, followed by North Carolina State University, and The University of Alabama in Huntsville. A complete list of challenge winners can be found on the agency’s Student Launch webpage.
      Participants from James Madison University – the overall winner of the 2025 NASA Student Launch competition – stand around their team’s high-powered rocket as it sits on the pad before launching on May 4 event. NASA/Krisdon Manecke Each year, a payload challenge is issued to the university teams, and this year’s task took inspiration from the agency’s Artemis missions, where NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefit, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. Teams were challenged to include sensor data from STEMnauts, non-living objects representing astronauts. The STEMnaut “crew” had to relay real-time data to the student team’s mission control, just as the Artemis astronaut crew will do as they explore the lunar surface.  
      Student Launch is one of NASA’s seven Artemis Student Challenges – activities that connect student ingenuity with NASA’s work returning to the Moon under Artemis in preparation for human exploration of Mars.
      The competition is managed by Marshall’s Office of STEM Engagement. Additional funding and support are provided by the Office of STEM Engagement’s Next Generation STEM project, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the agency’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, Northrup Grumman, National Space Club Huntsville, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Association of Rocketry, Relativity Space, and Bastion Technologies Inc.
      To watch the full virtual awards ceremony, please visit NASA Marshall’s YouTube channel.
      For more information about Student Launch, visit:
      https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/nasa-student-launch/
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Jun 16, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
      Marshall Space Flight Center Find Your Place For Colleges & Universities Learning Resources Explore More
      3 min read NASA Announces Teams for 2025 Student Launch Challenge
      Article 9 months ago 4 min read 25 Years Strong: NASA’s Student Launch Competition Accepting 2025 Proposals
      Article 10 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      4 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Auburn University’s project, “Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars ECLSS Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER),” won top prize in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum. National Institute of Aerospace A team from Auburn University took top honors in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum, where undergraduate and graduate teams competed to develop new concepts for operating on the Moon, Mars and beyond. 

      Auburn’s project, “Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER)” advised by Dr. Davide Guzzetti, took home top prize out of 14 Finalist Teams from academic institutions across the nation. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took second place overall for their concept, “Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM),” advised by Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh. The University of Maryland took third place overall with their project, “Servicing Crane Outfitted Rover for Payloads, Inspection, Operations, N’stuff (SCORPION),” advised by Dr. David Akin, Nich Bolatto, and Charlie Hanner. 

      The first and second place overall winning teams will present their work at the 2025 AIAA Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery (ASCEND) Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada in July. 

      Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took second place overall in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum for their concept, “Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM).”National Institute of Aerospace The RASC-AL Competition, which took place from June 2-4, 2025, in Cocoa Beach, Florida, is a unique initiative designed to bridge the gap between academia and the aerospace industry, empowering undergraduate and graduate students to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world challenges in space exploration. This year’s themes included “Sustained Lunar Evolution – An Inspirational Moment,” “Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign,” and “Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot.”  

      “The RASC-AL Competition cultivates students who bring bold, imaginative thinking to the kinds of complex challenges we tackle at NASA,” said Dan Mazanek, RASC-AL program sponsor and senior space systems engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “These teams push the boundaries of what’s possible in space system design and offer new insights. These insights help build critical engineering capabilities, preparing the next generation of aerospace leaders to step confidently into the future of space exploration.” 

      As NASA continues to push the boundaries of space exploration, the RASC-AL Competition stands as an opportunity for aspiring aerospace professionals to design real-world solutions to complex problems facing the Agency. By engaging with the next generation of innovators, NASA can collaborate with the academic community to crowd-source new solutions for the challenges of tomorrow. 

      Additional 2025 Forum Awards include: 
      Best in Theme: Sustained Lunar Evolution: An Inspirational Moment 
      Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University  Project Title: Project Aeneas  Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh  Best in Theme: Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign 
      Auburn University  Project Title: Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars ECLSS Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER)  Advisor: Dr. Davide Guzzetti  Best in Theme: Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot 
      Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University  Project Title: Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM)  Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh  Best Prototype: South Dakota State University 
      Project Title: Next-gen Operations and Versatile Assistant (NOVA)  Advisor: Dr. Todd Letcher, Allea Klauenberg, Liam Murray, Alex Schaar, Nick Sieler, Dylan Stephens, Carter Waggoner 
      RASC-AL is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying disciplines related to human exploration, including aerospace, bio-medical, electrical, and mechanical engineering, and life, physical, and computer sciences. RASC-AL projects allow students to incorporate their coursework into space exploration objectives in a team environment and help bridge strategic knowledge gaps associated with NASA’s vision. Students have the opportunity to interact with NASA officials and industry experts and develop relationships that could lead to participation in other NASA student research programs.   

      RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategies and Architectures Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.   

      For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including complete theme and submission guidelines, visit: http://rascal.nianet.org. 

      National Institute of Aerospace
      About the Author
      Joe Atkinson
      Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Jun 05, 2025 Related Terms
      Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate General Langley Research Center Explore More
      3 min read NASA Earth Scientist Elected to National Academy of Sciences
      Article 48 mins ago 3 min read I Am Artemis: Lili Villarreal
      Lili Villarreal fell in love with space exploration from an early age when her and…
      Article 1 day ago 19 min read Interview with Dave Des Marais
      Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...