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History

2008-2009: Shoot for the Moon

For the past five seasons, MorTorq has set a theme that embodies the goal for each year. This season, our team decided not to set a specific goal, but rather an all-encompassing objective. In line with FIRST's recognition of the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing, our team decided to push the limits and strive for excellence by making our 2009 theme "Shoot for the Moon". MorTorq has raised the bar in efforts to excite students from elementary through high school in robotics and technology. Since our team's inception, MorTorq members have worked over the summer at Techno-Tainment Camp, which provides courses in robotics and other related subjects for elementary and middle school students. This past summer, our MorTorq members and alumni taught classes on building a VEX robot, constructing web and game design, producing videos, and competing with gracious professionalism. Additionally, our team again participated in the open houses of our four local K-8 schools by demonstrating our FRC robot, giving students the opportunity to drive VEX robots, and distributing team brochures to parents and students. At Beverly Hills High School, we also described the robotics program to incoming students and parents during Freshmen Orientation and encouraged them to join the team. In addition, every year, MorTorq sets up a booth for the high school's club week and biannual carnivals, in which members fundraise, demonstrate the robotics program to peers, and encourage new team membership. Members of the school board and our principal are also invited to tour our facilities and talk about robotics with our members on a regular basis. Our team has experienced immense growth due to significant improvements in enrollment procedures. This year, MorTorq's programmers developed a new online application for people interested in joining our team. This helped our team stay organized and easily add new members to the team's email list. This year, Team 1515 was especially honored to represent FIRST in the documentary Imagine It!^2. This production focuses on how imagination and innovation, along with science and technology, can provide the answers to tomorrow's problems and how future generations can help solve the world's grand challenges. Sixteen of our members were interviewed and asked questions about the impact of FIRST on our lives. The documentary will premiere at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington D.C. and will later be aired on television worldwide. MorTorq's efforts on behalf of the larger community have also grown exponentially. Our team held a book and toy drive for patients in the Pediatric Ward of Cedars-Sinai Hospital and families at the Gramercy Homeless Shelter for Women and Children. We also brought MorTorq's TECH robot and let the young patients drive the machine. MorTorq has made giant strides in our communication methods, utilizing our various media tools to spread the message of FIRST within our team and community. Constantly updated with blog posts and pictures showing our team's progress, MorTorq's website also chronicles our team's history, outreach, and volunteer services. In addition, our team is in the process of creating an application on the social-networking website Facebook, which will allow FRC teams to interact with each other and create their own alumni databases. Along with Facebook, MorTorq uses Twitter to keep our supporters constantly informed on the progress of the robot, animation, match updates, and other team efforts. Finally, MorTorq continues to run its popular TV show MorTorq TV. The show reaches 35,000 Beverly Hills residents and the entire FIRST community on video-sharing sites as YouTube and as a podcast on iTunes.

2007-2008: Overdrive into Action

In its fourth year, MorTorq continued its steady expansion, gaining two new teachers and forging new relationships with mentors. The team attended workshops with mentors from Walt Disney Imagineering and the LAPD Bomb Squad. They took tours of the facilities of Service Machines Inc. as well as the LAPD Bomb Squad. The team's membership increased so much that it now encompasses three R.O.P. classes. The team also created VEX Team #161 this year to participate in the FIRST Tech Challenge. In its rookie season, Team #161, together with Team Spyder and the RoboTroopers, won the Los Angeles Regional. To get elementary and middle school students excited about robotics and engineering, the team held a robot and roller coaster design competition, with the winners getting a chance to work with the team. MorTorq expanded its outreach by planning two fundraisers to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, starting a Muscular Dystrophy support group on Facebook, and presenting on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. In accordance with Dean Kamen's homework of contacting the media, MorTorq contacted and invited several news organizations and networks to the Los Angeles Regional event. To compete in the 2008 game "Overdrive", the team built a new robot, nicknamed Orange Fever. The robot has a fast 6-wheel drive train and uses a rotating arm and claw mechanism patterned after MorTorq's 2005 robot. A pneumatic actuator pulls the claw open and closed on the trackball and then a separate pneumatic actuator punches the ball out of the closed claw with the aid of passive rollers to shoot the ball over the overpass.

2006-2007: Spreading the Word

Team 1515 lost a majority of its experienced members and switched teachers again. The team recruited over 120 new members and became an R.O.P. class for its business sub team. The team acquired Los Angeles County ROP and the Beverly Hilton Hotel as corporate sponsors. MorTorq also sought to spread the word about the program and the FIRST organization. The team started MorTorq TV as a means of communication within the Beverly Hills community and technological world. The show broadcasts on a local television station, viewable on youtube.com, and can be downloaded on iTunes for free. The team also started sending out professional weekly newsletters to the team, Beverly Hills High School PTSA, and anyone who subscribed. The 2007 FIRST game "Rack and Roll" gave MorTorq many design challenges. The team went with a six wheel drive robot with a telescoping arm mounted on a pivot point in the middle of the robot. The arm can pivot about 250 degrees.

2005-2006: Setting up Shop

The 2nd year of the team started out with new leaders, a new teacher, and a new attitude. We recruited 100 new members and got down to business. We organized a fundraiser at Cold Stone and started bringing in new sponsors such as Moog Aircraft Group and Mercedes Benz of Beverly Hills. We started to use Quickbooks for our finances, Microsoft Project for management, and we sent out weekly updates via email. 2006 started with the FIRST game "Aim High." This year, the team created a robot with four wheel drive, a front roller to pick up game piece balls, a neoprene conveyor belt, and a pivoting turret that could fire balls at 12 feet per second. Before MorTorq sent the robot off to the competition, Team 1515 held another fundraiser dinner at Spark Woodfire Grill. The team competed in the Las Vegas Regional and won the Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award. The team also won the award in Los Angeles in addition to the Autodesk Visualisation Award for its 3D Animation. After the main robotics competition was over, the team planned a middle school Vex robotics competition amongst the four Beverly Hills Unified School District middle schools. All the schools came together on Engineering Day to compete with their robot and to celebrate their engineering accomplishments. The team also helped to plan the Beverly Hills Education Foundation's annual Car Show with Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills. The event raised $50,000 for the school district and Team 1515 got a chance to speak with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

2004-2005: Building a Foundation

In 2004, three students, a board member, a high school principal, and a chemistry teacher founded the Beverly Hills High School FIRST Team 1515. The newly formed team was founded as a sub team under the current science team. Team 1515 contacted Team 207 for mentoring help. Along with experienced machining, guidance through the FIRST program, and a role model to follow, Team 207 also provided Team 1515 with their first corporate sponsor, Walt Disney Imagineering. WDI graciously paid for a regional competition, provided Imagineers to mentor the team, and donated WDI polo shirts. The Imagineers helped with programming, building, animation, and business. The sub team had 40+ members and became so large that they broke off and formed the Robotics Club. The club decided on "MorTorq" for a team name and selected which regional events the team would compete in. For weeks, the team presidents trained the members in different disciplines such as electronics, business, and 3D animation. Beverly Hills High School PTSA became an official sponsor of the team. MorTorq also held a fundraiser at a local restaurant, Spark Woodfire Grill. The 2005 game "Triple Play" was announced and the team was ready. The team built Norman I, also known as Zip Tie for it's excessive use of colorful cable ties. Norman I had four wheel drive, a super structure supported by guild wires, a telescoping arm that pivoted on a Ford Aerostar window regulator, and a claw with a pneumatic solenoid. The team traveled to Denver, Colorado for its first regional event. Team 1515 came in 3rd place and won the Rookie Inspiration Award. MorTorq then came home and participated in the Southern California regional event in Los Angeles. Team 1515 came in 3rd place again and won the Rookie Allstar Award. By winning the Rookie Allstar Award, the team qualified for the international competition in Atlanta, Georgia. The team did not win anything but walked away with a great experience.