Robot Dolphins From Outer Space
At OC pathways on February 27, our team took part in a great opportunity to promote our program! We connected with parents, children, and even people from other organizations who were interested and they all had a blast catching notes from Siren and learning about robotics.
On Friday, February 7th, we went to Don Juan Avila Elementary school’s STEAM Night to present about our program and robot! We discussed what our team stands for, the why and how behind making our robots, and then explained how our robot from the previous season, Siren, worked! We love going to this school because the students never fail to ask clever questions. One student asked how many lines of code we wrote on the robot, and, not knowing the answer, we responded with “Many thousands!”
Our team had a spectacular opportunity of attending Tesoro High School’s Titan Showcase on January 27th! We demonstrated our 2024 on-season robot, Siren, to parents and incoming high school students. By explaining our program and garnering interest from attendees, we introduced them to the possibilities of what they can do in high school!
Over the weekend on 12/28 and 12/29, our team attended the Cubebotics event hosted at The Discovery Cube. At this event we represented local robotics teams to younger kids and showed how accessible robotics can be and how they could participate in similar activities! This was our youngest audience yet and it was a special occasion to see a baby catch a note from our robot Bermuda!
The 2025 robotics season Reefscape is off to an exciting start with frenetic activity by students, alumni and mentors! Less than 48 hours since launch and great progress being made on field build out and prototyping!
Recently, a group of middle school students visited our shop where we showcased the robot. We showcased both of our 2024 robots, Siren our on-season robot and Bermuda our off-season robot. They collected notes from the ground and shot them across the field. After the robots finished we explained in detail what each robot did, how they work and answered any questions the students had. Finally, we gave a presentation about FIRST Robotics to the students.
We had a great time participating in the Laguna Niguel Holiday Parade! This year, we were fortunate to bring two robots along for the ride!
It was a great opportunity to be out in the community, spread some holiday cheer, and see so many familiar faces lining the parade route!
For many of the kids along the parade route, it was the first time they had ever seen a working robot up close. It was very rewarding to see their excitement and enthusiasm.
Hopefully the experience made an impression and inspired the next generation to get curious about STEM.
A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support us – your energy and excitement truly made our day.
We had an incredible time at the Arroyo Vista Elementary School STEAM Night! Our team proudly showcased our robot, sharing the excitement of robotics and STEM education with students, parents, and teachers.
Thank you, Arroyo Vista Elementary, for hosting such an amazing event! It was fantastic to connect with so many bright young minds and show them what’s possible with science, technology, engineering, art, and math.
Recently, our team attended the Capistrano Valley High School’s STEM Night, where we showcased the robot shooting notes to the crowd. People of all ages came by to watch the robot or catch the notes that were shot into the air. Thanks to everyone who participated in this event!
On October 24th, our team went over to George White Elementary to showcase our off-season robot Siren during their STEAM night showcase. Kids came in to check out the design and catch game pieces from a distance. Students were engaged in our conversations, and were curious about the moving parts. A huge thank you to George White Elementary for letting us get involved!
We went to Marco Forester Middle school on October 10th. We presented to Mrs. Gonzales’ 5th period robotics and 6th period Technical Education. We showed the students our robot Trident and explained how our robotics program works.
This weekend was an unforgettable experience, competing at Chezy Champs, an invite-only event, with some of the best teams in FRC. Huge shoutout to all the teams who made the competition so intense and exciting!
Thank you to our alliance partners, Team 6328 – Mechanical Advantage, Team 2910 – Jack in the Bot and Team 670 – Homestead Robotics. You guys were incredible!
After intense finals, we’re so excited to say our alliance won the competition! Those last few matches were very competitive, and we couldn’t have done it without the teamwork, strategy, and support from everyone involved.
Thank you to all the teams, mentors, volunteers, and event organizers who made Chezy Champs so special. We’re beyond grateful for the experience and can’t wait to see what the future holds!
Finally, a huge thank you to Team 254 – The Cheesy Poofs for hosting such an awesome competition. A lot goes into putting on an event of this size and the execution was flawless! Thanks to all the volunteers who put in the long hours to make it such a success!
We are excited to announce that we recently hosted an outreach event with team 589 Falkon Robotics at the Irvine Salesforce office!
During the event, kids saw both robots operate and shoot notes which they tried to catch out of the air. Kids also built the tallest towers they can out of marshmallows, graham crackers and pretzel sticks.
A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the event and to team 589 for coming and demonstrating their robot with us!
The team turned out in force to help install fence posts along the trails in Mission Viejo. We are proud of our team members and mentors for stepping up to help on this Eagle Scout project. The technical expertise and team work we practice in class and as a team came in handy. What was scheduled as an all day work project was done in less than half the time. Great Job Robot Dolphins!!!
Team 5199 had the incredible opportunity to showcase our robot, Siren, at Aliso Viejo Middle School. One of the most rewarding parts of the event was seeing the students’ faces light up with curiosity when we let them get a closer look at Siren. This allowed them to ask many questions and learn about the complexities of the bot. We’d like to especially thank Derek Lee, Moises Martinez, and Lacie Miller for joining us at this event! Despite minor difficulties, the event went smoothly and we had a blast presenting at Aliso Viejo Middle School.
Team 5199 has hosted various panels to provide support to not only our team, but teams throughout the world. All of our panels are streamed live on YouTube, so anyone can watch.
The Robotic Dolphins co-hosted the Bots at the Beach FLL (FIRST Lego League) Robotics competition with Team 3476, Code Orange, at Dana Hills High School.
After the FIRST season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Robot Dolphins hosted a week-long series of virtual robotics workshops to teach important skills, lessons, and strategies for success in robotics to FRC teams throughout Southern California. 5199 collaborated with several major FRC teams, including 1622, 2458, 3309, and 3476, to bring about one of the largest online summer robotics during the course of the 2020 pandemic with 350+ attendees.
In 2020, the Robot Dolphins were invited to present their award-winning 2019 robot at the CUSD Innovation Fair, an annual event intended to encourage and inspire students throughout the Capistrano Unified School District to pursue careers in STEM.
In the summer of 2019, Team 5199 was invited by the CUSD CCA to hold a six-week long robotics workshop to teach middle school students the basics of robotics. Each participant learned aerodynamics, soldering, electrical components, simple power tools, how to build simple parts, and more.
Team 5199 started FTC Team 15497, the MantArrays, in 2018
From 2018 to 2022, the Robot Dolphins have collaborated with FTC team 15497, working alongside one another, sharing materials, offering guidance, and facilitating a pathway for transitioning into the FRC program.
