2019 - DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE
2010 - BREAKAWAY
2010 - BREAKAWAY
2010 - BREAKAWAY
2010 - BREAKAWAY
Our latest creation, BanTOR III, is one powerful machine. The telescoping climber never failed to raise this beautiful bot. This robot also featured an unstoppable 6 Neo west coast drivetrain, that quickly zipped this little machine across the field. BanTOR III utilized a 5 ball autonomous mode to rank 3rd at the 2020 Los Angeles Regional and went all the way to the finals with teams 5124 and 2576. Unfortunately, this robot never got to compete at Champs (Thanks COVID, love you), however we did take our first-ever Chairman's Award at the cancelled Sacramento Regional.
Our latest creation, BanTOR III, is one powerful machine. The telescoping climber never failed to raise this beautiful bot. This robot also featured an unstoppable 6 Neo west coast drivetrain, that quickly zipped this little machine across the field. BanTOR III utilized a 5 ball autonomous mode to rank 3rd at the 2020 Los Angeles Regional and went all the way to the finals with teams 5124 and 2576. Unfortunately, this robot never got to compete at Champs (Thanks COVID, love you), however we did take our first-ever Chairman's Award at the cancelled Sacramento Regional.
Our latest creation, BanTOR III, is one powerful machine. The telescoping climber never failed to raise this beautiful bot. This robot also featured an unstoppable 6 Neo west coast drivetrain, that quickly zipped this little machine across the field. BanTOR III utilized a 5 ball autonomous mode to rank 3rd at the 2020 Los Angeles Regional and went all the way to the finals with teams 5124 and 2576. Unfortunately, this robot never got to compete at Champs (Thanks COVID, love you), however we did take our first-ever Chairman's Award at the cancelled Sacramento Regional.
Team 1197 has also won the following awards throughout our team history:
2020 Sacramento Regional
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Regional Chairman's Award
2020 Los Angeles Regional
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Regional Finalist
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Quality Award sponsored by Motorola Solutions Foundation
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Championship Wildcard
2018 Central Valley Regional
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Regional Finalist
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Championship Wildcard
2018 FIRST Championship (Houston)
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FedEx Innovation Challenge Winner
2018 Battleship Blast
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Competition Winner
2016 Los Angeles Regional
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Regional Finalist
2016 Arizona West Regional
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Quality Award sponsored by Motorola Solutions Foundation
2016 FIRST Championship (Houston)
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Championship Galileo Subdivision Winner
2015 Los Angeles Regional
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Regional Finalist
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Innovation in Control Award sponsored by Rockwell Automation
2014 Los Angeles Regional
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Creativity Award sponsored by Xerox
2011 Los Angeles Regional
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Regional Winner
2011 Las Vegas Regional
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Engineering Excellence Award sponsored by Delphi
2010 Los Angeles Regional
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Creativity Award sponsored by Xerox
2009 Las Vegas Regional
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Regional Finalist
2004 Southern California Regional
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Regional Finalist
Team 1197 was founded in 2002 by a small group of enthusiastic students as the South High Robotics Club in Torrance, California, at a time when there were very few FIRST teams in our community.
Watch founding member Sean Roberts reflect on their vision and determination to build a functioning robot, against all odds:
With the support of their dedicated woodshop teacher, Michael Ellena (pictured below), the team embraced the motto, "Student Run, Student Done," and competed in our first FRC Southern California Regional in 2003.
Originally, Team 1197 was the only team in the Torrance Unified School District (TUSD). We became known as the TorBots, Torrance Robotics, and the club opened our doors to all four high schools in TUSD in 2009. Students from each school have been involved with our team over the years.
As one of the older teams in the South Bay, we have worked with a lot of teams to build up FIRST in our community. TorBots assisted in the formation of West Torrance Robotics, which began as FIRST Tech Challenge Team 4512 in 2009, and expanded into our sister FRC Team 5124 in 2014.
As TorBots continued to grow, the team began engaging the wider Torrance community in robotics. We demonstrated student-made holiday “animatronics” and sold hot chocolate to thousands of visitors on “Candy Cane Lane” in the Torrance holiday lights district as an annual team fundraiser.
Continuing to broaden our impact in the Torrance community, TorBots started a FIRST Lego League team at Calle Mayor Middle School, began mentoring FLL teams at Richardson Middle School and hosted a successful practice FLL tournament for our greater South Bay region.
Throughout the years, we have participated in many events to engage our community in STEM. In 2016 TorBots hosted a symbolic bill signing event to honor our nation’s hero, Christa McAuliffe, with a commemorative coin, and she will be honored by the United States mint with a silver dollar coin in 2021. Most recently, we presented a robotics workshop to dozens of Torrance elementary students at the Camp Nerdling conference hosted by our school district.
Reaching new heights, TorBots qualified for the FIRST Championship in Houston in 2011, 2016, 2018 and 2020.
Watch the POV from our robot at the 2020 Los Angeles Regional:
Since opening our doors 20 years ago, TorBots has inspired robotics enthusiasts of all ages. During a historic 2020 season, Team 1197 was virtually presented our first-ever Chairman's Award at the 2020 Sacramento Regional.
TorBots provides access for all students, regardless of our background or experience, to further our interest and skills in various STEM fields. It's a place where seniority isn't an issue, and everyone has the opportunity to develop leadership and contribute to our success, whether in robot-building, community outreach, digital media, public relations or team operations. At TorBots, every member can find their purpose and place on the team.
“We’ve engaged the community in ways that we never thought we could. We send people all around the world doing amazing things and some of them say that this time, this high school time they had here, is the best time they had.”
- Mr. Ellena, TorBots Founder/Retired Woodshop Teacher