CyboSoft is an active supporter of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Program. FIRST, created by Segway inventor Dean Kamen, seeks to partner students with adult mentors working in science and engineering through a robotics competition where teams are given six weeks to design and build a robot to compete in a complex game. The competition is intense but does not have destructive goals. Rather, teams cooperate in alliances where matches are won by strategy, elegant design, and effectiveness of control. From a base kit of parts, teams create robots of impressive scale and capability -- robots weigh up to 120 pounds and contain a variety of motors, pneumatics, and sensors.

CyboSoft is a 7-year corporate sponsor for two award-winning local teams, Jesuit High School Robotics and St. Francis High School Robotics. Both teams have enjoyed success at the regional and national level.

See the FIRST website for more information.

2008

BREAKING NEWS - The 2008 St. Francis High School Robotics Team has won the UC Davis / Sacramento Regional Chairman's Award, FIRST's highest honor!

2007

St. Francis Robotics Team 2007

2006

The 2006 season's game Aim High had robots collecting balls on the field to shoot into goals positioned at each end of the field. The kit of parts featured a camera system which could be programmed to locate and track the goal to help in aiming and autonomous operation.

Team 692's 2006 robot, "Camelot"

The team in the pits after the regional competition at UC Davis

2005

The 2005 season's game Triple Play featured a field with nine large tetrahedral goals arranged 3 by 3, on which smaller tetrahedral game pieces could be stacked. Each stacked tetrahedron was worth 3 points, while teams who placed the highest tetrahedron on a stack "owned" the goal. A line of three owned goals in tic-tac-toe style gave the team 10 additional points.

Team 692's 2005 robot, "Anklebiter"

Team 1097 takes a corner goal

2004

The 2004 season's game FIRST Frenzy featured a playing field with 4 goals, playground balls suspended above the field, large balls that could be capped on goals, and a bar above the center platform ten feet off the ground. At the beginning of the match, robots in autonomous mode could activate a ball drop to release the playground balls (not doing so meant waiting 30 seconds until the balls were released). Each playground ball placed in a goal was worth five points, while placing the large yellow 2X ball on top of a goal doubled the value of balls inside. At the end of the match, robots that could hang on the center bar and stay suspended when power was turned off were awarded fifty points each.

Team 1097 (Jesuit High School Robotics) and its teammate for the match, Team 114 (Los Altos High School Robotics), hang for 100 points

Team 1097 wins the Autodesk Visualization Award and the Engineering Inspiration Award