1717: One of these things… … is not like the others.
I thought CD might enjoy this photo. The 5818 Riviera Robotics students were doing an outreach/recruiting demo at Dos Pueblos High School the other day and snuck the bot into the Engineering Academy lobby for a photobomb.
They should really have those in a diorama like at a Natural History Museum.
Could be on branching of species and natural selection.
Press F to pay respects. It’ll never not be too soon.
Such a tease, but I’m happy to see that Dos Pueblos students at least get the chance to do FRC via 5818.
Wow those robots look like they’re in good shape!
Anybody know where their pre-swerve robots went? (besides 2008 in the picture)
F
F
F
F
F
***F
F
If you look closely, the 2007 robot is sitting next to 2008. The robotics program was integrated as the senior capstone project for DPEA so the robots would stick around.
Did 1717 have to fold because they ran out of space to store their old robots? 
F
F
I’ll never forget being in 5th grade going to my first FRC competition at Long Beach in 2009, and seeing 1717’s robot from that year swerving around and shooting like crazy. Seeing the D’Penguineers in action through multiple seasons as a kid is honestly a huge part of why I’m in FRC today, and without them, I would have none of the amazing experiences I’ve had through it. Without them, I might not have been going to college for engineering next year (I genuinely have no idea what I would be doing). It’s a shame that they had to disband with all of the inspiration they were providing to their own students, other teams, and little kids like me. That kind of stuff is literally life changing. I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but RIP 1717, you are missed.
I know you’re not serious, but seriously, running out of space to store your old robots results in robots getting recycled or scrapped, not a folding team. To the best of my knowledge, every FRC team that has folded has been due to lack of some resource, usually money, build space/facilities, or key mentors, though occasionally students. Except 1717 – they are the one team I am aware of which **graduated **or **outgrew **FRC so they can go on to (what they believe are) bigger and better things. (If there are more, please enlighten me!)
What happened to team 1717 to make them fold?
This probably sums it up best: Students Protest End of D’Penguineers Robotics Team at Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy
Edit: See article above.
I also recall that there were just too many students for the team to handle, and that was stressing out the lead, or something like that.
5818 filled the void, but as a community-based team, they simply happen to exist in a similar space with similar sponsors and do not replace 1717. (YET–give 'em time to get their play caliber up.)
** F.**
f
Even if they were all of the same people, it’d take any team a long time to recover from a move from a great shop to technically working out of a barn. Don’t get me wrong: they have a supply of great students and the mentors (while not all the same) are great too. I’m just saying let’s not place the burden of 1717 on them because there can be no reasonable expectation they’ll reach that level of success. I mean, that’s a team that consistently won Championship engineering awards (their last four years and five of the last six); literally nobody does that.
Mashes F
I am intrigued by the bigger and better things statement. The DPEA definitely changed direction from typical FRC programs. Is the DPEA change a better engineering learning environment than FRC?
The DPEA news site shows promising updates about their program.
http://www.dpengineering.org/academy/academy-news
