SF Unity Robotics
9038
Our Mission
SF Unity empowers Bay Area youth through inclusive, hands-on STEM education. By uniting students from diverse backgrounds and schools, we foster collaboration, creativity, and technical growth in a supportive, student-led environment. Our members take the lead in every aspect of the team—from robot design and programming to fundraising, logistics, and outreach—gaining leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills that extend far beyond robotics. We strive to make STEM accessible to all, regardless of experience or background, while inspiring the next generation of innovators and community leaders.
Our Story
SF UNITY was founded by Leyton Lin and Kyle Young, two high schoolers with an ambitious idea to start a FIRST robotics team. Our goal was to expand the network of people interested in STEM from outside our high schools. Instead of creating private teams within each of our schools, we wanted to conjoin our community and unify San Francisco. We also hope that SF UNITY will encourage a lot more students to join the STEAM community, as well as create stronger bonds between high schools.
Our Team
SF UNITY is comprised of over 40 diverse high school students, spanning from freshmen to seniors, across 7 high schools in the Bay Area. In the 2023-2024 season, the number of team members more than doubled, playing a crucial role in our success and strong team environment. SF Unity prioritizes collaboration because greater diversity in perspectives creates better outcomes.
Team Updates
2025-2026 Season
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This year, our team continued its expansion, reaching over 40 participating members across 10 high schools. Much of this growth was part of our new offseason training program. This program focused on developing new members' skills over twelve weeks. This training was a part of our goal to allow anyone to join the team without needing an application, prior experience, or membership dues, and to actively participate in their first season. We furthered our competitive potential and educational experience by upgrading our shop in many ways. Primarily, we purchased our first-ever CNC and moved to a shop that provided us with access to additional 3D printers and a laser cutter. We also built a practice field, where we hosted local teams for practice matches
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During the season, we debuted Claude, named after the late California Academy of Sciences albino alligator. This robot was the most complex robot the team had ever built. Claude featured a modular intake for quick repairs, a spindexer-hopper with a 40-ball capacity, and a turreted shooter. This season, the team also had our best playoff performance yet. We fought our way to fourth place as the eighth alliance at the Sacramento District Event. At our second event, the East Bay District Event, we were awarded the Excellence in Engineering award, which recognized our team for extensive prototyping and documentation, as well as our exhaustive failure-mode tracker. In addition, one of our members won the FIRST Leadership award. Unfortunately, after a long season, the team fell short of the District Championship by 1 point. However, we gained valuable experience and created systems that will help to keep us competitive in the future.
Contact Us
Interested in joining SF UNITY or asking any questions? Click this button to take you to our contact page!