Five-year garage journey culminates in international second-place finish for local teens
Move over World Cup, because Folsom has its own international powerhouse that is celebrating success this week.
Folsom-headquartered youth robotics team Metal Maniacs #20163 of the FIRST Tech Challenge recently returned from the prestigious Cowtown Premiere in Fort Worth, Texas, which serves as the equivalent of the soccer Champions League. The team locked down second place for the CONNECT Award, one of the highest honors in the FIRST program.
The title recognizes the team that best connects student engineering with global tech giants through effective mentorship and advocacy. Metal Maniacs #20163 stood alone as the sole team representing the state capital’s region against a premier bracket of 48 international teams spanning four continents.
These highly competitive tournaments are often described as the “World Cup of the Mind,” where teams of students unleash 20-pound, custom-built robots into a high-stakes arena. The competition mimics a fast-paced soccer counter-attack. Matches begin with a strict 30-second autonomous period where the robots must execute complex navigation entirely on pre-written code without human intervention.
From there, student drivers take the controls to navigate field obstacles, block opponents, and launch 5-inch projectiles into elevated goals before the final buzzer sounds.
Leading the charge on the ground in Texas was an all-girls travel team of three 16- and 17-year-olds who carried the mantle for their 14-member team. As the only three members who were able to make the trip to Fort Worth, they handled the high-pressure tournament environment entirely on their own.
This trio of rising seniors from Folsom High and Vista del Lago High included Harsika Thanthullu (Team Captain), Evelyn Ma (Founding Leader & Outreach Director), and Charlotte Berry (Founding Leader & Principal Software Engineer). In a field traditionally dominated by male engineers, these three young women spearheaded the team’s design, code, strategy, and presentation.
“Five years ago, we were just a bunch of middle school kids, still masking due to COVID in a hot garage, trying to figure out how to even build a robot,” said Evelyn Ma, the team’s Founding Leader and Outreach Director. “Coming back from Texas with a 2nd Place International CONNECT title is the ultimate payoff for how hard this team has grinded through the years. This award isn’t just about what we built; it’s about the community we’re building through the ‘Silicon Foothills’ movement. Metal Maniacs is showing everyone that the Sacramento region has the talent to compete internationally and set the standard for what’s next.”
The international milestone is the culmination of a five-year climb. The founders started in 2021 as seventh graders tinkering with donated parts. Since then, the students have spent half a decade managing their own build cycles, tracking down bugs in their code, and assembling prototypes.
Punching their ticket to Texas was the direct result of years of trial, error, and student-led determination.
In January, the team launched their youth-led ‘Silicon Foothills’ campaign to champion ‘STEM4All.’ They firmly believe that access to high-level tech education shouldn’t be determined by a school’s funding or neighborhood layout. The team brings high-end engineering to neighborhoods lacking sports-sized budgets, proving that any local student with grit can learn to build.
This momentum carried straight into May, where the team was featured during the City of Folsom’s landmark 80th Anniversary celebration. Their grassroots journey inspired younger students to pick up robotics for the first time while inviting tech professionals to serve as mentors for the upcoming 2026-2027 season.
As soccer fields across the Americas heat up with international rivalries this summer, Metal Maniacs #20163 have already brought global honors straight home to Northern California, proving that local youth tech talent is ready to win on any stage.
Founded on a garage floor in 2021 by seventh-grade students under early co-coach Melanie Miner, Metal Maniacs Team #20163 is an entirely student-led program where the teenagers call every strategic play, write every line of code, and manage their own budget, backed by Coach Tabitha Wong, who anchors the team’s operations, safety, and serves as a trusted counsel.
Composed of 14 youth innovators dedicated to tech equity, the students champion the “Silicon Foothills” movement to make STEM and robotics accessible to all regional youth. The team also mentors and sponsors local robotics teams from elementary to high school.
They work to elevate the regional tech community through gracious professionalism while partnering with Folsom Lake College, the FLC Innovation Center, FIRST California, and Playing At Learning. To these student innovators, true leadership means helping everyone succeed in their STEM learning journey.
CA State Senator Niello recently recognized them for the positive annual economic impact they are having in the 6th District and for leading the way for their community.
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