At The Greybots’ build space in Atascadero, you’ll find Dustbowl — the robot that helped the student‑run robotics team qualify for the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) World Championship in Houston, Texas.
Dustbowl has been with The Greybots since early March, after the team had just a little more than a month to bring the robot to life.
“We get a game released to us in early January, and we had about six weeks to build a robot to compete in that year’s game challenge,” said The Greybots' president Kiera Reardon.
Starting with just parts, the team was tasked with designing, building, and programming an industrial-sized robot.
“Every motor or two motors have a subsystem that they’re grouped into, and that is how we command them,” said The Greybots' programmer Cameron Breitung. “For example, command the shooter, or the intake, or something, and we can all command them separately.”
This year, the robot had to be able to play a game, similar to basketball, while a student driver, like Caden Jenkins, operates it.
“He is collecting as much as these game pieces — these yellow balls called fuel — as possible, in order to shoot them into a hub, which is about six feet tall, and it accomplishes that through a system of rollers that will end at a big ‘ol flywheel here that’ll launch these fuel,” said Jenkins, The Greybots' vice president, pit boss and driver.
The Greybots started their season off strong in Ventura, bringing home the Winner’s Banner from the Ventura County Regional, then went on to become finalists at the Fresno Regional and received an award at the State Championships.
“All those successes in that early season soon qualified us for the World Championship in Houston, Texas, so we flew out there, and then ended that competition 1% out of 4,000 teams in the world,” Reardon said.
Team members come from all over San Luis Obispo County, but what really makes this group special is how they keep it going.
While the Greybots use the Atascadero High School facility to work in and get a lot of support from the school, they are not funded by it or the district. The $100,000 they need to run the team each year is provided through grants they apply for, sponsors and fundraisers that the students themselves organize.
The Greybots’ next event, Boogie with the Bots, is on Oct. 10. It’s an auction event in collaboration with the Elks Lodge that will include a dessert auction, a dinner and a silent basket bid. More details can be found on their website.
