The Atascadero community robotics team, The Greybots, are heading to Houston for the FIRST Championship to compete against 599 other teams!

The Greybots are wrapping up their 25th season where they competed in 2 challenging District competitions; winning the Ventura County District and then placed 2nd at the Central Valley District where they also won the Creativity Award (sponsored by Rockwell Automation). With those accomplishments the team went to the State District Championship in Anaheim where they just missed the Finals but won the Autonomous Award (sponsored by Google)!

The team has worked hard together to get to this stage in their season with their robot Dust Bowl and they are anxious to go and compete against other teams from around the world!

Despite their fundraising, the team still has the $5,000 registration fee to pay, some travel costs, and robot expenses to cover as well. The team of 13 students and 7 mentors would GREYTLY appreciate your donation to help make this trip possible. If you can, please donate to their online fundraiser with any amount you can and then cheer them on April 29th - May 2nd! https://www.firstchampionship.org/

More info:
2026 FIRST® Championship in Houston, April 29 - May 2, 2026.
Hosted by FIRST®, FIRST Championship is a culminating, international event for our youth robotics competition season and an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for our community as we prepare young people for the future.

Team 973: The Greybots is a competitive high school robotics team started in 2002 and located in Atascadero, California that participates in the international FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). Since 2009, Team 973 has ranked in the top 50 of the 3,400+ competing teams including earning the title of World Champions in 2011, and the Houston World Champions in 2017, and 2019. Every year Team 973 is challenged to raise $90,000 or more to cover the costs of competition registration, robot materials and tools, and travel expenses.

The team's goal is $8,000, but they will graciously accept what ever can be donated and thank you for your support for the team!