On Dec. 10, two teams from the UHS Technology and Engineering Program (UNITE) earned the top two places at the Stem on the Sidelines Southern California robotics competition hosted by the Los Angeles Chargers and engineering firm Ducommun. Teams of six to eight students can participate in Stem on the Sidelines, using their engineering and programming skills to create a football-themed device. UHS junior Kevin Huynh, senior Harry Wang and senior Ryan Men received first place in the competition and $5,000. UHS senior Eric Wu and junior Nguyen Do were awarded the Ducommun Perseverance award and $3,000. 

Before participating in the robotics competition, both teams spent numerous hours in engineering teacher Mr. Matthew Bell’s classroom perfecting the fire rate and accuracy of their football-launching robots. 

“In order to prepare for the robotics competition, I usually stayed after school for one to two hours as long as Mr. Bell’s [room] was open,” Wu said. 

Mr. Bell’s guidance to the teams in the UNITE program was key in helping them prepare the robot for competition.

“Mr. Bell definitely kept our heads in the game and our morale high,” Do said. “He would remind us to make progress and give suggestions and ideas to us when we need[ed] them.”

The teams utilized the engineering design process to improve and make adjustments to their robots in the weeks before the competition. 

“We built a robot in the month leading up to the event, using inspiration from past robots used in the competition as well as [our] own designs and ideas,” Men said. “In the last few weeks, we tested it extensively, shooting countless balls at targets we set up in Mr. Bell’s room and fixing any issues we found.”

Team members were thrilled with their robot’s performance during the competition. 

“We were all unsure if the robot would perform well since past test runs of the robot were unsuccessful, but finally being able to see our robot hit target after target showed us that our hard work had paid off,” Huynh said. 

UHS students also astutely noted down the skills of robots from competing schools as compared to their own.

“As other teams were doing the tasks, the UHS teams would discuss how the other teams did and which place we were probably going to get,” Do said. “There was an atmosphere of anticipation and tension when we realized that one of our teams was neck [in] neck with another team from Costa Mesa.”

The competitors revealed their plans regarding robotics and engineering. 

“I am interested in designing weapons,” Wang said. “I plan on pursuing a doctoral degree in robotics, and I am also applying for engineering as an undergraduate.”

The students offered advice to high schoolers looking to pursue their interests in engineering and robotics. 

“Don’t feel intimidated if you have no prior knowledge about robotics or engineering because it’s never too late,” Huynh said. “Robotics and engineering can be challenging fields, but setbacks or challenges are often opportunities to learn and grow.”