The team started the seed rounds with an 8-to-8 tie followed by a 32-to-4 win, as it lifted one alliance robot up 30 centimeters, for 30 bonus points. The alliance's competitive advantage increased as its partners began to get the hang of climbing the Louisville robot's ramps. By the third seed match, the girls were posting 64-to-0 wins. By the end of the seed rounds, the Royal Robotrons had posted six wins, one loss, and one tie, making them the top seed.


The final elimination matches of a FIRST robotics competition were held on weekends in college arenas. Inevitably, by noon the stands would be filled with large swaths of team colors, and the parents—some of them sporting orange or green hair—would be cheering, often screaming out team numbers and battle cries. So rambunctious was the crowd that FIRST officials had to restrict enthusiasm by prohibiting live bands and depriving the spectators of their Silly String.


Captain Stacey Chu concentrated on selecting alliance partners, and the rest of the Royal Robotrons prepared the robot. The biggest problem they faced was the tendency of alliance partners to slip on the Royal Robotrons’ plywood ramps. The team modified the ramps with antislip stair coating, and then quickly invited its alliance teams to the practice area during the break before the next round.


In the quarterfinal round, the Louisville team watched as its alliance partners attempted to outscore the competition by placing more rings on the racks. Though the ramps were down and ready, none of the alliance partners could make their robots climb in time, so the alliance lost the game by 16 to 23. In the second game, Louisville’s partners played excellent defense while the robot waited in the home zone. Although the partners managed to place only three adjacent rings, for a mere 8 points, the Louisville robot was able to elevate both of its alliance robots and thus win the match, by 68 to 33.


In the last game of the quarterfinal, with the match tied 1 to 1, the alliance partners played aggressive defense right through the endgame. Time ran out with no bonus points, and the partnership lost the match by 0 to 16 as the competing alliance scored 4 adjacent rings.


Okay, so this time, the girls lost to the boys; still, there were no tears here. The Royal Robotrons had proved that girls could compete in robotics. They felt both elation and relief when their pneumatics actuated and hoisted alliance robots high into the air.


The winning alliance was Bellarmine College Preparatory of San Jose, a home-schooled team called BeachBots, from Hermosa Beach, and High Tech High of Lake Balboa. They posted winning scores of 305 to 30 and 58 to 53. The Bellarmine robot moved with striking fluidity, having been built with beautifully anodized parts under the mentoring of engineers from the NASA Ames Research Center, in Mountain View. 


As for the Royal Robotrons, they planned to use their experience from the Los Angeles regional to tweak their robot for the Silicon Valley Regional in San Jose, from 15 to 17 March. There an unprecedented seven all-girl teams went head to head with two boys’ teams and 37 coed teams. IEEE Spectrum will bring you that report. 


This regional provides another shot at a spot in the national championship, slated for 12 to 14 April, in Atlanta. Spectrum will be there, too, reporting on 8500 teenagers from 340 teams who will compete for the title of top robotics team. For more information, check out http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/regionalevents.aspx?id=430 for regional events near you (admission is always free).


For Robo Girls Part 2, see "Robo-girls Know the Way to San Jose"