By Mia Hanuska
As the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition season comes to an end, it’s time for a recap of Team 3482 Arrowbotics’ accomplishments, along with an introduction to their 2025 robot, CETO.
Learn about the 2025 challenge here!
Meet CETO
CETO, Arrowbotics’ 2025 robot, marks many firsts for the team. A large funnel intakes the PVC pieces, called “coral,” which are then stored and scored with the roller outtake. Her 3-stage continuous elevator quickly allows the robot to score on three of the four levels of the field element called the “reef.” Two LimeLights enabled the code team to skillfully create an autoalign function that allows the robot to score with the simple click of a button. A simple line of spinning wheels remove the large balls, “algae,” from the reef. This is the first year the team has created a flawless elevator and worked with the Kraken line of motors. You can learn more about the robot in the official technical binder, coming soon.
Sacramento Regional
From March 14–17, the team competed at the Sacramento Regional at Elk Grove High School. CETO ran beautifully, excepting slight problems with the algae-removing mechanism (which was later redesigned) breaking almost three times. Her two-coral autonomous path, where the robot is running without human intervention, worked near-perfectly, and the autoalign had no issues. In Quals 58, with 1678, Citrus Circuits, and 2288, Hydra Robotics, the alliance filled the entire reef and set the competition qualification match high score! Team 3482 ranked 24th and was picked for Alliance 7 by Team 3189, Circuit Breakers, and Team 3598, SEStematic Eliminators. Fighting through tight playoff matches and losing by only a single point (140 to 141) in the first match, they were eliminated in the third round, placing fifth in the competition overall—the best the team has ever placed.
CETO preparing to score
CETO on the starting line before a match
Coach Jocelyn Hwang, Driver Alexis Habouzit, & Driver Max Cooley
Sacramento Regional Team Photo
Alliance 7: Team 3482 Arrowbotics, Team 3189 Circuit Breakers (Captain), Team 3598 SEStematic Eliminators
East Bay Regional
At the East Bay Regional from April 3–6 at Berkeley High School, CETO played her best matches. After making changes to the algae-remover from Sacramento, CETO was able to remove all levels of algae, improving the autonomous paths and overall playing level. Although her three coral auton never worked perfectly, and issues with autoalign arose, the practice from the Sacramento Regional greatly impacted her overall performance. Arrowbotics placed 14th out of 55 teams, and was chosen for Alliance 6 by Team 4669, Galileo Robotics, and Team 9470, Ctrl-Alt-Defeat. Her playoff matches went similarly to the Sacramento Regional, placing the team fifth again in the competition overall—still very good! Her best match was Quals 32, where the blue alliance—Team 3482, Team 1351, Team 5419—filled almost a full reef and won 114 to 185.
CETO scoring a coral
Returning to pits after a match: (left to right) Alexis Habouzit, Max Cooley, Jocelyn Hwang, Beckett Wilder, Mia Hanuska, Gavin Bowyer
Alliance 6: Team 3482 Arrowbotics, Team 4669 Galileo Robotics (Captain), Team 9470 Ctrl-Alt-Defeat
East Bay Regional Team Photo
Thank you to 3482’s sponsors for making this season possible:
The local fruit company, Sereno 1% for good, Lockheed Martin, Silicon Valley Rotary Club, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Westmont PTSA, FIRST, Forest Hill PTSA, Intuitive, fabworks, BrandU Customs, and many extremely generous families.
Thank you to all the parents that helped the team throughout the season; hosting meetings at their houses, driving students to competitions, bringing snacks, and most importantly: supporting their student.
Thank you to Steve Gospe for allowing the team to use his room for the year.
Finally, a humongous thank you to Eric Hsu and Alfonso Garcia for their incredible mentoring and flexibility. The team couldn’t do this without you.