St. Francis robotics team wins first place in international with deep-sea submersible
SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento school team is celebrating a big win after going up against more than 500 teams in an international competition and coming home with the top prize.
These St. Francis High School students are diving deep into science and technology.
"This really made me fall in love with building things and making things," said senior Lauren Grindstaff.
They're members of the school's robotics team called Geneseas and they've built an underwater remote-operated submersible named Medusa.
And no myth, Medusa and the team took the top prize in an international competition held earlier this month in Denver.
"When we heard first place, we were still in huge disbelief," said senior Isa Gutierrez.
"To me, it was a surprise when our names got called," said St. Francis graduate Sydney Goodall.
The robot is capable of diving more than 12 feet underwater and can be used for research purposes like addressing ocean pollution and climate change.
"Teaching us that there are real problems and they have solutions and I can be a part of building them," Grindstaff said.
Many team members want to continue their scientific studies once they graduate.
"I want to be an engineer," Gutierrez said.
"I want to stay in the realm of robotics and building things," Grindstaff said.
There's a growing need for people with submarine skills.
"I think going forward there's going to be a huge demand for this type of study," Goodall said. "There's very little we know about the ocean, and it's constantly evolving."
"I think that there's so many unexplored things there and there's many answers I think that we could find," Grindstaff said.
The tragic loss of the Titan sub and its crew shows there's still a great risk for humans conducting deep-sea research.
"I definitely think that it shows that ocean exploration is a very unsafe thing and that robots are a good use," Grindstaff said.
The St. Francis robotics team has been around for 25 years, but this is the first time they've taken the first-place prize.