Los Altos High School’s robotics team ended this fall’s offseason with unfinished business — a lower-than-expected score at their final competition. But with the season opener in March, they hope to learn lessons and course correct before it gets serious. 

The team, also known as Eaglestrike or Team 114, competed twice this fall: Capital City Classic (CCC) on Oct. 24–26 and Madtown Throwdown on Nov. 7-9. At CCC, Team 114 finished 7th out of 39 teams – a strong start to the offseason. However, due to unexpected technical setbacks, Team 114 finished 44th out of 48 teams at Madtown.

In competitions, robots score points by picking up PVC pipes known as “coral” and placing them onto “reefs” or scoring areas. Parts of the competition are human-driven, known as tele-op, while other rounds rely entirely on the robot’s auto alignment system (ALS), an autonomous software programmed beforehand by students. As teams compete against each other throughout the competition, they are also given a match score, or their overall win-loss-tie record. 

The team prioritized revamping ALS on last season’s robot while preparing for CCC, which wasn’t properly completed during the 2024–25 season. The new ALS proved successful, scoring 34.9 autonomous points out of the team’s final 43 points. 

More than technical successes, co-captain senior Zoe Cheng said the team’s collaboration fueled their performance.

“The whole team just worked together really well,” Zoe said. “The drive team and pit crew were so adaptable in fixing the robot between matches, while everyone else was super on top of watching matches and giving us data.”

Team 114 left CCC scoring 8–4, and Rayhan said they were among the top few teams to watch.

“We were putting up numbers that were similar to teams that went to the World Championships,” Rayhan said. “The fact that we were able to do that right off the bat was really amazing.”

The team’s performance at Madtown, however, did not live up to the expectations set by CCC. ALS issues, radio failure and a new driver controlling the robot led to struggles in both the autonomous and tele-op portions of the competition. But the team still fought hard, according to senior Arush Garg, Team 114’s new member lead.

To the team’s disappointment, they left Madtown with a score of 2–7. 

“The outcome wasn’t what we wanted,” Zoe said. “But we still learned a lot, which is literally the point of an offseason competition.” 

During CCC and Madtown, the rookies on Team 114, with half of the class being sophomores, were able to gain valuable experience — preparing them to become the team’s next generation. Unfortunately, their inconsistent offseason was partly due to its young roster, with only 15 returning seniors out of 56 people. As a result, the team lacked veteran expertise, and leads said they were pushed to be more intentional with training. 

“In a place where you build most of your expertise over time, it’s a little hard to intentionally get new members involved,” Zoe said. “But because the team is so young, we’re forced to make sure they’re getting all their training.” 

Arush said the extra months of learning and training should bring new students up to par. 

“Our new members have potential,” Arush said. “They just need a lot more practice and experience to get comfortable.” 

Additionally, plans for newcomers to build a second robot — one of the team’s initial goals — were halted this fall, when their CNC machine broke. The CNC is a critical machine in shop as its used to cut the metal and wood, and the robot can’t be built without it. 

While they wait for a new machine to arrive, the team will run a mock season for new members to develop technical skills, preparing for the new year’s competition season. After that, they’ll put rookies in in the new year, and once the new CNC machine arrives, rookies will take charge of prototyping and designing the second robot. 

“We really want to emphasize prototyping because without the designs, you will not do well,” Arush said. “Hopefully, the new members will be able to get experience through the second robot soon.” 

With plans for training set, the team will spend their remaining months preparing for their first regional competition in March. 

“I have faith in our upcoming season,” Rayhan said. “Team 114’s got it.”