Richmond High School’s Robotics Team 841 — aka the BioMechs (or Oilers, to longtime fans) — is on fire this fall.
They’ve enjoyed back-to-back titles at two of Northern California’s top off-season events: Chezy Champs (Sept. 26–28) and CalGames (last weekend).
At Chezy Champs in San Jose (hosted by Team 254), Team 841 outpaced 41 elite squads, including former world champs, after designing and building a winning robot mechanism in just three weeks. As part of an alliance led by Team 604 (with Teams 581 and 9408), they blasted their way to the Winner crown.
Next up at CalGames at Woodside High, they snagged the No. 4 seed with a 14-3 qualifying record, then carried their alliance all the way to the championship trophy. District officials underscored what this means beyond trophies.
The win also highlights the real-world impact of Career & Technical Education (CTE), where students learn engineering, coding, project management & leadership, district officials said.
From CAD modeling and precision fabrication to wiring, software, testing, and full integration, Team 841 makes it all happen. They learn planning, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and pressure management in the meantime.
This program has been competing in FIRST Robotics since 2002, with a mission to promote STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) in the Richmond community through student-led design, fabrication, programming, and outreach. Their core values are “student designed, student built, teamwork, representing their community, and hands-on training.”
For more information, visit their website here.
