RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - When the Pleasant Grove High School robotics team secured second place at an international competition in Houston on April 19, the excitement also rippled through Rancho Murieta.

Two high school seniors, Jason Keyes and Trevor Armer, live in the community. As integral members of the EagleForce 2073 Team, they helped design and build the robots. The Kiwanis Club of Rancho Murieta also is a proud sponsor of the team.

This was the seventh time the team had competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship, which this year drew 161 teams from around the world. (See "Pleasant Grove Robotics Team Takes Second".) 

Keyes said team members were thrilled with their second-place finish. 

“It was awesome. We never expected to get that far,” Keyes said.

Armer added that their initial hope was simply to be selected for an alliance at the competition. But the team went on to win its division. 

“Then, we were finalists … like, for the entire world,” he said. “It was incredible.”

Kiwanian Carol Prinzo spoke on behalf of the club. 

“We, in the Rancho Murieta Kiwanis Club, are so pleased to have helped support the Pleasant Grove High School Robotics Team in achieving this incredible feat,” she said. “It’s been an honor to have been a part of their amazing journey.”

The team sent 25 students, five mentors and their robot, Kingfisher, to Houston.

The four-day competition began April 16 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Armer said the space was massive.

“I think the room we were in is nearly two miles long with eight competition fields,” he said.

The atmosphere was electric. 

“It was like any big sporting event, but here, everyone in the stands was an athlete, with the stakes being as high as possible,” Armer said.

Keyes explained that teams were ranked by points after two days of qualification matches, with EagleForce finishing around the middle of its division. Next came alliance selection, where the top seven ranked teams formed playoff alliances consisting of four teams: three active robot teams per match and one as a backup.

One of the top-ranked teams, Team 1690 Orbit from Binyamin, Israel, selected EagleForce as its second choice for its alliance. 

“We were very consistent and could do a lot of things that our alliance partners couldn’t,” Keyes said. “That’s probably why they chose us.”

The EagleForce robot team played so well in the first match that “They just decided to keep us throughout the entire thing,” Keyes said.

During the playoffs, each alliance sent three robot teams onto the field to compete against another alliance in a series of matches—12 in total—that involved completing specific tasks, somewhat resembling a game of basketball. Alliances first battled at the division level. The winning alliance from each division then advanced to a round-robin tournament, with the top two alliances ultimately facing off in a best-of-three final to determine the world champion.

Keyes said seven EagleForce team members participated in the playoff matches. He served as part of the three-member pit crew that maintained the robot, while two communicated with judges and two more drove the robot.

“Every time the Drive Team came back from their matches, they were jumping and screaming,” Keys said. “It was awesome.”

Armer contributed by scouting opposing teams; he collected and analyzed data to help the EagleForce alliance. 

Keyes also took part in scouting and talked to many teams. 

“It was really awesome to see how differently everybody’s results came out after putting in the same amount of work that we did,” he said.

Keyes said his interest in robotics began in elementary school when he attended a summer camp hosted by the EagleForce team. 

“I thought what they did was really cool, so when I got to high school, I immediately went to look for them during the club rush,” he said.

He eventually became a lead for the mechanical team. 

“I oversee the design, production and assembly of the robot,” he said. Keyes also enjoyed mentoring younger students and helping them get involved in the program.

Participation in the robotics club required a significant time commitment. During the first semester—the off-season—the robotics lab was open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays from noon to as late as 6 to 8 p.m. Once competition season began, the team added sessions on Mondays and Fridays.

As a leadership member, Keyes typically stayed for the entire scheduled time, even though it wasn’t mandatory. 

“It was like a full-time job,” he said.

Armer said he has always been passionate about engineering, but it wasn’t until his sophomore year—when Keyes encouraged him to check out a few meetings—that he joined the robotics club. 

“He told me I could leave if I didn’t like it,” he said. “I came and fell in love.”

Armer highlighted three key areas of learning from his time in the robotics club: mechanical design, prototyping and manufacturing, which included the use of a computer numerical control machine to cut and shape metal bars. 

“I’ve learned a lot about the prototyping process and how to go from an idea to a finalized design,” Armer said. “I’ve also learned a lot about the manufacturing process: how you take a design and build it in the real world.” 

Armer and Keyes said their experience in the robotics club solidified their decision to major in mechanical engineering in college.

Armer will enroll at Sacramento State. Keyes plans to attend Cosumnes River College for two years before transferring to either the University of California, Los Angeles, or California Polytechnic State University. 

As Armer and Keyes look ahead to college and future careers in engineering, their story stands as a testament to the lasting impact of their participation in the robotics club at Pleasant Grove High School.