FRC Robotics Club and Grad Showcase

Every year OHS organizes a 3-day event known as Graduation Weekend. This year it will feature many fun activities such as a La La Land themed prom, middle school game night, a luncheon, a carnival and a graduation ceremony for seniors. This year's carnival will include a number of classic games for all grade levels as well as prizes. For the last several years Graduation Weekend has also included a student showcase. In the past years the student showcase has involved both club spotlights as well as individual talents, including students playing musical instruments like the piano or singing. This year for the first time the student showcase will feature a joint club spotlight and showcase between the FRC robotics, FTC robotics and VEX robotics teams at OHS. 

Justin (‘26), the Co-Captain and fabrication lead of the FRC team, describes the First Robotics Competition as a "worldwide robotics competition featuring 100 lb aerospace-grade robots that can reach very high speeds". With over 13 years of existence, the team is now in its second year as a homeroom and club associated with Stanford OHS. The team's funding comes from major organizations and companies, including NASA, Northrop-Grumman, Qualcomm and Viasat. According to Justin, what sets the club apart is its diverse membership, spanning three continents. While based in California, with branches in both San Diego and the Bay Area, team members come from various states across the US, such as Texas, Florida, Michigan, and New York. Additionally, there is international representation from countries such as Thailand, Italy, the UK, Canada, Serbia, and Switzerland. 

As Justin puts it the goal of the showcase is to “demonstrate the wonder of robotics and applied engineering as well as the product of hundreds of hours of work and dedication”. Additionally, the showcase aims to bring together and encourage students interested in STEM and reach out to those that might be interested in joining FRC. The team will show off many of the robot's components such as the holonomic drivetrain which consist of four wheels that enable the robot to move in any direction at speeds of 15 miles/hour while carrying over 100 lb of weight. The plan includes demonstrating the robot driving and moving through obstacles. Additionally, the team will showcase the robot arm which is able to pick up notes which are flexible circular ring shaped objects used in FRC competitions. Finally, they plan to demonstrate the vSLAM programming system—a method used by both drones and robots to navigate and map their surroundings. This system functions by using cameras to determine the robot's position based on environmental features and is particularly useful when the robot bumps into or is pushed by another robot.