By Shrijani Buruganahalli ’25, Samanya Girish ‘25, Cerisa Katchmart ‘26 and Varsitaa Srinivasan ‘26
The Janksters recently attended their second regional of the season, the Silicon Valley Regional (SVR), held at San Jose State University (SJSU). To start off the competition weekend, students walked Caroline, the 2023 robot, through downtown to load in the robot at SJSU. A crew of Janksters set up all the necessary tools, backup mechanisms, and judging materials to ready the pits for the eventful three days of matches ahead. From the beginning of the practice day, Janksters engaged in many activities at SVR such as touring the vice president of PG&E around the pits, hanging up flyers around the venue, and helping with field setup. They even inspired younger students by volunteering at the FLL junior competition, a robotics challenge designed for elementary students. The pit crew worked diligently throughout the competition by troubleshooting robot functions and replacing mechanisms. Additionally, the team tested and fine-tuned their new autonomous path for consistency during qualification matches.
The Janksters began their first day of competition with enthusiasm and spirit as they readied Caroline to play in the team’s first qualification match. All students played a key role in Caroline’s success. Scouters in the stands worked hard to collect data on robots playing in matches and cheer on Caroline in the team’s qualification matches. The pit crew worked efficiently in between qualification matches to make critical fixes to the robot to ensure that Caroline was ready to perform at her best in each match. Along with this, pit crew highlighted the many aspects of the team while talking to judges about the strategic design behind Caroline, team culture and outreach, and more. During the awards ceremony of the first day of competition, students were delighted when co-director Marta Carrillo won the Woodie Flowers Finalist award. At the conclusion of a productive day, students enjoyed ice cream with other teams at the Space Cookies’ Ice Cream Social, where they had the opportunity to socialize and meet other FRC students.
On the second day of competition, Caroline climbed the ranks to 42nd place after completing all 9 matches. Then, during a “serpentine” selection process, the Janksters were selected by the 4th seed alliance captain Team 5507, The Robotic Eagles, and Team 1351, TKO, to play with them in elimination matches. The alliance displayed their strength while playing two matches against the 5th seeded alliance and the 8th seeded alliance. During the team’s eventful first elimination match, Caroline’s arm chain and intake were severely damaged. To overcome these challenges, pit crew worked diligently and efficiently, by replacing the snapped arm chain and the heavily damaged intake in under 15 minutes. The perseverance of the students helped the Janksters finish strong in their final match of the season, ranking in the top 25% globally and the top 30% in California.
Through the wonderful experiences and opportunities provided at the competition, the Janskters were able to shine at their last regional of the season. The team’s successes went beyond their robot’s performance at the competition as they were awarded the Safety All Star Award for continuous efforts to uphold safety standards during the competition, and Gracious Professionalism pins for helping other teams find disability-friendly access to the venue. The team looks forward to celebrating their hard work and dedication in the upcoming Robotics Appreciation Night. Go Janksters!
