By Uy Pham
Last year, the Inkineers reached the pinnacle of a robotics team’s dream — the opportunity to compete in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) World Championships in Houston.
At the time, the Inkineers, a four-year robotics team founded by juniors Aaron Nguyen and Matthieu Hoang in middle school, became the school team and represented Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) robotics pathway. However, due to robotics teacher Ryan Pham spending time to work on his other projects this year, the Inkineers needed to engineer a new independent chapter.
Although being an independent team is not new to the Inkineers, this team of six FVHS students hopes to not only return to Worlds but also expand their love of robotics to their community.
This year’s FIRST Tech Challenge competition involves maneuvering and manipulating rectangular prisms combined with a balancing act that the robot must perform. Although the challenge differs every year, the Inkineers credit their experience for providing the foundations to improve each season.
“As teams go on in more seasons, they get more experience. They start to explore more advanced concepts and get feedback from vendors, coaches and other teams,” Nguyen, the team captain and lead programmer, said. “For example, in my second year, I went from [using] block programming to Java.”
The team’s preparation begins in the summer, where they train newly recruited members with the technical skills and objectives necessary for the new season. Next comes the engineering process: continuous brainstorming, designing, programming, building and analyzing.
But the prototype they create doesn’t stop there. As the team progresses through the various practice meets to regional competitions, they continuously learn from their results and make modifications as necessary. Inkineers credits the strength of this entire construction and revision process to the strong communication they’ve developed in their time as a team.
“As we’ve become a team for longer, our communication has also gotten better. We’ve been able to bond for a longer amount of time, and we have more understanding for each other,” Project Manager and sophomore Katie Tai said. “Our roles have become more defined … Everyone on the team has a different specialty, and this year, we understand what our roles are and what we need to do.”
As an independent team, the Inkineers have faced several challenges without being directly supported by a school. They must locate their own practice times and coordinate schedules without a dedicated class period, and team members must seek resources, both financial and material, through personal endeavors.
“One challenge of being completely independent is that we have no organization to back us,” Outreach Lead and senior Audrey Tran said. “It’s really hard to do traditional fundraising that you see [school] clubs do because we’re not a non-profit … The school funded our trip to Houston, and this year, that’s definitely a goal in our mind but we’re just thinking how we’re going to fund ourselves, being completely independent.
However, as an independent team, the Inkineers have been able to shift their focus to outreach initiatives both at FVHS and in the local community.
The Inkineers have hosted robotics demonstrations for students and families at Golden West College and Orange County’s Maker Faire. At FVHS, the Inkineers collaborated to design physics teacher Debbie Dickinson’s door which won the schoolwide holiday door-decoration competition.
Nguyen himself teaches at the FVHS CAD Club, bridging STEM technical skills from his robotics experience to the school by focusing on computer-aided design. He’s also working with the robotics teacher on a curriculum that develops students’ passion for robotics techniques and leadership and teamwork skills that FIRST values.
“FIRST really emphasizes outreach and promoting STEM education. One of the biggest awards from FIRST requires proficiency in not just the technical part, but also spreading awareness of STEM and that this competition can live on in the future,” Nguyen said. “The future is not just about smarts. It’s about how to apply the smarts and get more people to become innovators.”
As an organization, in addition to its competitons, FIRST advocates for their core values, including innovation, teamwork and impact. It’s the same core values and desire to impact the community around them that guides Inkineers through their outreach both inside and outside of competitions.
“We’re not just competitors. Yes, we compete fiercely with other teams, but we also uplift each other, and we all learn together,” Tran said. “We have good sportsmanship, and it’s a community of learning. It’s never holding back information from each other … That’s what makes this competition different from other robotics competitions — it’s the spirit and environment fostered.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the Inkineers’ next competition is the Southern California Regional competition. Those who win, which includes the top 42 teams from county competitions, will advance to the World Championships in Houston, Texas.
For anyone seeking a community that fosters collaborative learning, the Inkineers team encourages them to try FIRST, whether or not they have a direct passion for STEM.
“FIRST has been a transformative experience, and I definitely recommend it, whether or not you’re looking to go into STEM,” Nguyen said. “It’s a great way to learn, meet new people and become the best version of yourself that you can be.”
