Team 4153 in Fort Worth, Texas. Courtesy/LAPS

Project Y Robot 4153 on the Competition Field. Courtesy/LAPS

By EMILY XU
LAHS Student

Los Alamos High School’s Robotics Team 4153, “Project Y”, has been hard at work since January designing and building a custom robot to compete in FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) district events.  Led by CEO John Kang, Project Y competed twice recently in both Fort Worth and Amarillo, Texas, and earned the District Points and ranking status to advance to the FIRST in Texas District Championships. 

From March 19-21, they competed at Fort Worth, achieving second place overall after being selected by the top alliance during playoffs, earning a good amount of District Points. There, they were also awarded the “Imagery Award”, which netted them more points and recognized their cohesive and attractive branding, as shown in the robot’s display of its name, J. Robot OppenHopper, along with sponsors, LED lights, and the team’s themed merchandise.

The second competition took place this past weekend in Amarillo – the team had a strong showing and ultimately earned more than enough District Points to be invited to the District Championships in Houston from April 16-18. Mechanical Lead/Coach Sebastian Koglin and CADmaster/Robot Driver Amelia Hill were highlighted at this competition, having been nominated for the FIRST Leadership Award.

After a season of hard work, John spoke out on the team’s achievements: “As CEO, I am not the only leader on this team. I have been happy to see team members step up and tackle the challenges of this season, especially these past few weeks competing in Fort Worth and Amarillo.”

Project Y deeply thanks its sponsors for support — Dr. Krohn/Los Alamos Pediatric Clinic, Merrick, Enterprise Bank & Trust, ASME and IEEE local chapters, N3B Los Alamos, The Gene Haas Foundation, Argosy Foundation/Hack Club, ARM, NASA, Solidworks, Los Alamos Public Schools, and LAPS Foundation.

Team mentors are volunteers, and this year Jim TenCate was recognized by his nomination for the Woodie Flowers award, recognizing effective communication in engineering and design. Seniors who have dedicated years to the team are also appreciated: John Kang, Micah Finstad, Sydney Buck, and Emily Xu. 

For more information on Project Y, visit www.team4153.org. 

John Kang, Micah Finstad, and mentor Pierre-Yves Le Bas work in the robot pit. Courtesy/LAPS