On Monday, April 3, 2026, Berkeley High School’s robotics team placed third in an East Bay robotics competition hosted at Berkeley High School, qualifying them for the Northern California District Championship. This year, the FIRST Robotics Competition’s format was a three versus three game where robots shot dodgeball-sized balls through an elevated hoop. During the East Bay event, an opposing team was disqualified for damaging the field, crucially allowing Berkeley to overtake them and qualify. For their efforts, they won the Engineering Inspiration Award, one of the most prestigious FIRST Robotics Competition honors, which also qualified them for the same tournament.
Robotics at BHS is divided into multiple sub-teams, all focused on making the robot competition ready or managing team logistics. Senior Outreach Lead Alisa Garduno said that “a common misconception” about robotics is that it’s all engineering, “but there’s actually a big business operations thing.” Fundraising, media, PR and merchandising are all part of running the robotics team smoothly. “We’re always open to having more people on our team, especially on business,” Garduno said.
In the Northern California District Championship Berkeley switched up their strategy. In the three versus three format, Berkeley opted to have their robot play defensively, while their other two teammates focused on scoring. This defensive playstyle came in the form of two rods extending from the robot, with a net strung between them. This way, they could block and bump opponent robots from scoring. Senior Fabrication Lead Theodore Lam said that in the time between matches, “we strategize and think about how much we can get done. Sometimes that’ll mean taking apart an entire piece of the robot and putting it all back together again with newer pieces. And sometimes that just means making quick fixes, adding zip ties and hoping that it’ll hold together.”
Unfortunately, the defensive strategy led to Berkeley’s robot becoming entangled with the opposition. Despite only illegally obstructing the robot for no more than a dozen seconds, Berkeley received two yellow cards, adding to a red. In addition to various other problems with the robot, it resulted in a very low placement at the championship.
Nevertheless, the team stays positive. Garduno says that no matter how well they perform, they’re always asking, “How can we improve for the next match? How can we improve for the next competition? How can we improve it for the next year, season,” etc. In addition, she emphasized the team’s desire to succeed in addition to just “being happy and excited to be at a competition, and that we built something, and that we’re here together.”
For seniors on the robotics team, this was their last competition, many of them having been on the team since they were freshmen. BHS junior Samishka Chitnis said, “It’s sad to see them all leave.” The seniors have made sure to pass on their knowledge to the engineers, drivers, programmers, etc. below them. “I think (they) definitely left some legacy,” Chitnis said, reflecting on all that the senior members have contributed to the team in addition to the memories she has of working with them throughout the years.