The Steel Dragons know exactly what they would buy with more money: carbon fiber, their own practice field and enough room to test a robot without borrowing space across town.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Taylor Allderdice High School robotics team has learned to compete with polycarbonate, reused parts and quick pit repairs, pushing its green dragon-eyed robot Theodosia \u2014 named for their collective love of \u201cHamilton<\/a>\u201d \u2014 to the 2026 FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship in Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes us think of creative solutions that other teams might not think of to make a good robot.\u201d<\/p>\n Ayaka Hayashi, Steel dragons<\/p>\n For the Pittsburgh public school team, building a competitive robot has relied on engineering around a budget that shapes what materials they use, where they practice and how far they can go.<\/p>\n \u201cDo we break down a little bit more? Yes, but as I said, we work around it. It gives our pit crew a lot of practice,\u201d Steel Dragons president Izzy Stratman told Technical.ly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Steel Dragons team members agreed that the biggest challenge they face is finances.\u00a0<\/p>\n The room they have at Allderdice High School is too small, so they borrow practice space from Girls of Steel Robotics<\/a> in Bakery Square. They can\u2019t afford their own space and rely on duct tape and zip ties to make necessary repairs when Theodosia takes a beating.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFunds are probably the biggest thing holding us back. We have to be very conscientious of it,\u201d Stratman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, the same budget pressures that shape Theodosia\u2019s design have not kept the team from winning \u2014 in part because they have forced the Steel Dragons to become faster problem-solvers, more careful builders and more creative engineers.\u00a0<\/p>\n The price of competing<\/p>\n The Steel Dragons aren\u2019t an anomaly in the world of high school robotics.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robotics isn\u2019t cheap. The median FIRST Robotics Competition team budget <\/a>comes in between $17,400 and $56,300 depending on the team\u2019s location.\u00a0<\/p>\n Teams in Philly<\/a> lost access to funding last year due to a contract between the Philadelphia Robotics Coalition<\/a> and the School District of Philadelphia, despite a history of winning top prizes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n An Iowa City team<\/a> had to dip into this year\u2019s funding to support last year\u2019s world championship trip, leaving them with a deficit and a challenge in making it to Houston. Across the country<\/a>, high school robotics groups are put to a competitive disadvantage because of funding.<\/p>\n Teams like the Steel Dragons are free for students to join, leaving the weight of fees and travel to fall on school funding and sponsorships. That price only grows if the team succeeds and makes it to finals \u2014 for the Steel Dragons, that was a $25,000 bill.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where sponsors come in, a key resource for the cash-strapped orgs.<\/p>\n \u201cSponsors are very big about making sure they reach as many people as possible with the funds they give us, so outreach is very important. We make sure to put that in our emails, for instance, talking about what we do outside the team,\u201d Stratman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The team is also partially funded by Pittsburgh Public Schools under the Howmet Grant, <\/a>which funds robotics across the district, according to Stratman.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLuckily our district was nice enough to actually fund our trip to worlds,\u201d Stratman said. \u201cIf they didn\u2019t do that, I don\u2019t think we\u2019d have any funds right now. I will not deny that.\u201d<\/p>\n Built to surprise<\/p>\n The Steel Dragons don kelly green and have become a close group of friends throughout the school year. They practice up to six days a week in the winter, with some team members working from the moment school lets out until nighttime.\u00a0<\/p>\n Founded in 1998, the Dragons broke a team record at the most recent world championship and made it to round three, match ten.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite its growing track of success with a trip to worlds last season, this year\u2019s qualification took the team by surprise at the Greater Pittsburgh regional competition last spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were all just like, \u2018Oh, well, it\u2019s not gonna be us,\u2019 and then they call our name, and we all just look at each other, and we\u2019re in shock for a second. So we\u2019re just sitting there, and then we just start screaming,\u201d code sub-captain and media captain Ayaka Hayashi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Team members have noticed that their robot often goes undefended because of its less-modern look in competitions, allowing them to score more points. The underdog Theodosia, with its painted green dragon eyes and duct tape fixes, regularly flies under the radar and leads the team to victory. Their fixes, although not made with the most high-tech materials, work.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes us think of creative solutions that other teams might not think of to make a good robot that has a similar competitive level to teams with more resources or funding,\u201d Hayashi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the summer, the team members are balancing offseason competitions \u2014 they won one just last week<\/a> \u2014 and starting preparations for next year\u2019s competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n For the 2026-2027 season, the goal isn\u2019t exactly to win worlds. It\u2019s simply to make it back.<\/p>\n \u201cI was honestly just so happy that we made it that far,\u201d Hayashi said. \u201cIt was just like a big achievement for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t