LANCASTER, CA – FIRST Robotics concluded its 2025 California Regional Robotics Competition last week, bringing together over 25 schools from across Southern California for one of the region’s largest robotics events. Antelope Valley was represented by teams from Lancaster High School, Quartz Hill High School, and Highland High School.

The three-day competition, held April 3-5, transformed Eastside’s Gymnasium into a high-tech arena filled with machinery, high-quality monitors, custom team pins, and enthusiastic crowds. The first day was dedicated to setup, robot testing, qualifiers, and a ceremony honoring FIRST Robotics staff and volunteers. The second day featured main competition rounds, followed by finals on the third day where top teams selected their alliance partners.

“Coopetition is the act of working together with a person or team that may be your competitor in a way that benefits both of you,” explained David Berggren, Senior California Regional Director of FIRST Robotics. This collaborative competition format required schools to form random alliances with rivals to complete challenges, fostering unique sportsmanship among participants. “Having a fun and exciting cumulating event like our regional competitions give students and teams an opportunity to showcase their hard work and solutions. Additionally, they provide a purpose and timeline for the students work.”

Local teams performed exceptionally well, with Lancaster High School’s “Eagle Robotics 399” winning the Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors for their robot’s clean integration and coordination. “This high-flying team performed well, and looked good doing it. The clean integration and coordination of their mechanisms was truly something to behold. It allowed them to zip around the field fast enough to give you “whiplash”. 2025 Awards – Aerospace Valley Regional

Highland High School’s “Blackbirds 7607” captured the Team Spirit Award for embodying STEM values in their community. “All FIRST teams love robots and their communities. This small team has really focused on being an embodiment of STEM to their community as much as they can with their resources. Their community and school events has flown high, even creating a baby bird. For flying high with the spirit of FIRST, we congratulate Team 7607, the Blackbirds.” 2025 Awards – Aerospace Valley Regional

This year’s challenge, themed “REEFSCAPE,” focused on marine biology and coral reef conservation. Teams programmed their robots to remove simulated algae (rubber balls) and restore coral layers (represented by PVC pipes) within timed matches, concluding with robots balancing on a chain to simulate docking on a boat.

…They get to build robots, but we get to build engineers.”

“Competition matches can be difficult because there are so many spontaneous problems that come up,” said Hannah Zeng, a junior from Quartz Hill High School and Co-President of the Aqueducks 5869 Team. “We’ve had to restart our laptop and sometimes your cords are kind of wonky and you really have all this stuff to figure out.”

Industry leaders including NASA, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman supported the event, with NASA providing a custom mechanic shop equipped with tools for robot repairs.

“I really wanna go to college for engineering. This is something I really enjoy,” said Sean Leblanc, a senior at Lancaster High School and member of the Eagles 399 Robotics Team. Leblanc joined after watching the team compete in 2023: “I really enjoyed robots. Just to start by seeing them actually go out and look at what the competition is, it made me wanna join, now I’m here.”

According to coaches, around 80% of robotics team members pursue careers in technology or engineering. “These students learn how to build relationships and become leaders,” said Joel Foust, a coach from Eastlake High School’s “Titanbot 2543 Team.” “In the end they get to build robots, but we get to build engineers.”

Not all awards were given for good programming. One of the most prestigious award to gain is the Impact Award, which is gained from how you connect to your community. “Since I’ve joined I’ve made a lot of friends and connections,” said Zeng. “I’m actually really good friends with a lot of our teams’ alumni. We still stay in contact and I love meeting friends with other teams.”

The competition featured teams from across Southern California and international participants from China and Turkey. The event concluded with an awards ceremony, with the top four teams advancing to the World Competition in Houston, Texas, scheduled for April 16-19, 2025.

For more information about FIRST Robotics visit the link below:

https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/game-and-season