Octobots Robotics Club to Compete in West Coast Event

The Dos Pueblos High School robotics team Octobots Robotics 9084 has been selected to compete at Chezy Champs, an invitational robotics tournament held in San Jose, California, Sept. 26-28.

Hosted by world champion team 254 The Cheese Poofs from the San Francisco Bay Area, Chezy Champs brings together 46 of the top high school robotics teams on the West Coast to compete in the off-season annual tournament.

Octobots Robotics ended last season, which runs January to May, ranked in the top 5% of FIRST Robotics teams (9,179 out of 3,690) worldwide; top 5% (147 out of 2,927) in the U.S.; and top 7% (19 out of 290) in the highly competitive California region.

“This off-season competition is a great opportunity to showcase Octobots Robotics’ development over the summer and to test the team’s skill against some of the strongest robotics programs on the West Coast,” said Sebastian Kuhn, Octobots Robotics Team hardware lead and co-robot driver.

Octobots Robotics took home two awards last season including the Excellence in Engineering award in April 2025 and the Rising All-Star award in March 2025.

Established by a small group of robotic-enthusiastic high school students and two volunteer mentors in 2023 as the only FIRST robotics team serving students in the Goleta and Santa Barbara area, Octobots Robotics is an all-volunteer, all-inclusive team of 40 to 50 high school students based at Dos Pueblos High School.

The team works to inspire students to become science and technology leaders and innovators by engaging them in mentor-based programs and competitions that build business, science, engineering, and technology skills.

The team promotes STEM education in the community, volunteering at local science nights, community fairs, and new this past summer, offering a summer camp for students in grades five through nine to get an early start on learning robotics.

The team receives no regular funds from the school or other sources and must raise operating funds each season to cover 100% of the cost to build the robot, travel fees, and competition fees. Sponsors include Gene Haas Foundation, Bodenhamer Family, Waters-Wyatt Technology, Teledyne Flir, and Arthex.

Visit www.teamoctobots.org for more information.

Founded in 1989 by investor Dean Kamen, FIRST is an international nonprofit that prepares young people for the future through a suite of life changing youth robotics programs that build skills, confidence and resilience.

To learn more, visit https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc.