According to a San Francisco high school robotics team, the group lost $11,000 worth of equipment after thieves broke through a wall in the shed where the equipment was stored Friday night.
Students from the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts have had this happen before. Last month, someone broke into the shed and stole equipment, so they put a lock on it. This time, thieves went through a wall.
For the 5700 Sota Cyberdragons, the name of the robotics team, this is build season and a busy time of year when the students are preparing for a competition.
“There is a competition in 8 to 9 weeks,” said team member Alex Lindhart. “We will go there and compete with teams from all over the world and we need to be able to come with a fully built and fully programmed robot.”
Teela Damian, another team member, said that the thieves mostly took hardware.
“We lost heavy machinery mostly, so like saws, drill presses, all of our hand drivers…”
A go fund me the team set up shows video from the first break in, and though they’ve reached their financial goal to replace the equipment the time lost is significant to them.
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“Our software team lost the computer with all of their code on it and their software, so they’re going to have to re-download that all today,” Lindhart said.
They’ve said that any additional financial support they receive will go toward finding a new space where they can work.
