Highlander Robotics Team 8033 Update, April 2026

Highlander Robotics Team 8033 attended the first ever Nor Cal District Championship (CANCMP) in San Francisco on April 9-12 along with 59 other teams from Northern California that qualified.  

This year, FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) moved from the regional model to the district model in California. We were thrilled to win Impact, the most prestigious judged award, at the San Francisco District tournament back in March. In past years, this would have secured our attendance at the Worlds Championship in Houston. This year, however, it qualified us for CANCMP where only 2 of 11 Impact-award winning teams would advance to Worlds. 

Our robot Wisp had strong performances throughout the season, particularly at the San Francisco tournament. Our design, mechanical, and software sub teams showed grit and dedication to iterating all season as we learned more about this season’s Rebuilt challenge. At CANCMP, our most recent iteration did not coalesce as consistently as we had wanted and we were disappointed that we would not qualify for Worlds this year. 

The 8033 mentors are super proud of our students’ work this season. Some highlights are our technical growth and also expanding our many outreach initiatives where we INNOVATE then SHARE and SCALE to impact our region and the global FIRST Robotics community. Here’s a snapshot:

• Our FIRST scouting app called Lovat has been used by over 800 teams worldwide, making it the most used in the world. 

• We are proud to partner with the Piedmont Makers to secure a long term lease on the 10th Street full practice field and makerspace, used by 25 teams this season alone. We raised $245K from corporate and individual donors to fund this much needed space. 

• Our student-developed technical training programs, including software and mechanical design, are used by over 40 FRC teams.

• We grew our work making custom assistive devices and modifying toys with OUSD's Special Education students through hosting how-to workshops with younger students. 

• We supported girls in engineering through our student designed badge workshops for girl scouts and presenting at STEAM events for girls.

• We showed up for our community by mentoring, volunteering at robotics tournaments, and engaging kids at Fourth of July, Harvest Festival, and Maker Faire! On that note, come see us in our lab at Piedmont High for the School Maker Faire on May 17, 2026!

Lastly, this time of the year is always bittersweet as we will soon send off our Seniors to their next chapters. This graduating class has made significant contributions to our team and to STEAM education near and far. We can’t wait to see what they do at Rice, Georgia Tech, UC Berkeley and Villanova!

Captain Cassie Colby talks about our new 10th Street practice field on the big screen at the Nor Cal District Champs event

Our 2026 robot Wisp shooting “fuel” into the hub

Team ambassadors tell judges about our Outreach

L-R: Vice Captain Software Athena Li; Captain Cassie Colby; Ashley Sang; Zoe Snyder

Pit crew has very tight turn around times between matches

L-R: Pit Lead Nate Welch, Tristan Milsum, Sam Boyd

Thank you 8033 Sponsors!