Team History

973 was started in 2002 by a high school student, with strong contributions from an high school physics teacher John Miron. In 2007, Miron passed down his role as lead mentor to Larry Price, a senior engineer at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. In 2008, Adam Heard, an alumnus from team 294 started his college career at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. His past expirence helped guide 973 into what it is today.

 

2008 was the first year that 973 advanced into the finals at any competition. In 2009, 973 built, for the first time, two robots. This idea proved to be beneficial to the Greybots, and they won their first ever regional competition in Long Beach. While attending Championships in 2009, 973's robot, Raptor, had the highest OPR rating out of all robots attending, but was eliminated in the semifinals of Galileo.

In 2011, Larry Price stepped down and gave the lead mentor role to Adam Heard. This was the first year that 973 joined forces with another team, 1323. With the help of team 1323, 973 was able to have a complete robot frame and belly-pan made intirely out of aluminum. While attending the San Diego and Los Angeles regionals, 973 received its first judged awards in 6 years. This was the first time 973 had ever recieved more than 1 judged award in a season. At Championships, 973 teamed up with 254 and 111 to create a dream alliance. 973's minibot was proven to be the fastest out of all competing teams. This brought great success to the alliance, earning each team a championship title: the 1st for 973. With only 12 students in 2011, 973 is the 3rd smallest team to ever win champs, and the first team since 2004 to win champs with less than 20 students: a fact that emphasizes their team motto, 'OUTWORK US.'