The San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, commonly known as SFIT, is an illustrious university located in San Fransokyo, California.
Origin[]
Over a century before the current timeline, the university was built to be attended by students who excel in the field of of science and technology.[2] In order to attend the school, applicants can register in the school's annual convention at its Exposition Hall, where up-and-coming geniuses showcase new creations to receive acceptance into the university.
History[]
Background[]
By 1916, the SFIT and the San Fransokyo Art Institute became rival schools due to their different points of view—because science is objective while art is subjective. Both school played pranks on each other for a week, and this turned into a yearly tradition known as "Rivalry Week" that continued even in modern times.
Many decades later, Professor Granville taught robotics to students such as Wendy Wower and Trevor Trengrove. Trengrove stole Wower's thesis on artificial intelligence and claimed as his own. This turned him famous and an inspiration for many of the future students.
Professor Robert Callaghan, also a genius of robotics, began to teach in the institute and inspired young people since he invented his own Laws of Robotics as well as the Callaghan-Catmull spline. His reputation also made him the dean of the school.
Eventually, another young student, Bob Aken, proved to be a genius with many great ideas. Professor Granville escpecially noticed his potential and granted the boy his own lab, even allowing him to stay up at night all alone as he continued working after-hours on his inventions. However, these inventions started turning more and more risky, and one night, Aken began his work on an energy amplifier. Because Aken was unsupervised, he did not consider how dangerous the invention was and it blew up on his face, damaging Bob's brain and one side of his face. Granville witnessed when Aken was taken to the hospital, to never be seen again at SFIT—even though he survived. The incident was hidden and reported as a pipe burst, with Granville taking the only remaining piece of Aken's amplifier which she kept as a memento and turned into a paperweight. Yet, rumors started spreading soon about the truth of the incident while Granville felt extreme guilt from never setting limits to Bob, driving her to resign as a professor.
Alistair Krei, coming from a rich family, was also a student at SFIT, but he took many shortcuts and did things the easy way to achieve his goals, something that Professor Callaghan disapproved of. After graduating, he started his own tech company: Krei Tech.
Few generations later, Frederick Frederickson IV, an English major from the SF State school, decided to apply at SFIT for the role of mascot instead of student, as he had no scientific knowledge but still had a certain love for science. With a recommendation letter from SF State and a large donation by his parents Mr. and Mrs. Frederickson, Fred was admitted as the mascot and given a dinosaur-like suit, free to roam around the institute.
At the same time, Tadashi Hamada attended the school and earned Aken's former laboratory through hard work, befriending Fred and other students such as Go Go Tomago, Wasabi and Honey Lemon—all of whom were nicknamed by Fred. The group of friends became close and participated in SFIT and SFAI's rivalry week. The SFIT students pranked SFAI by stealing their Lenore Shimamoto statue, while SFAI students painted the SFIT's cafeteria.
One student named Olivia Vega admired Go Go's speed-based inventions and followed her around all the time, and although Go Go wasn't exactly her friend, she wasn't bothered by it. However, Olivia saw herself forced to drop out because she had to take care of her grandmother and could not afford paying tuition—while Go Go was seemingly unaware of this.
Eventually, Professor Callaghan headed the robotics program for Tadashi and friends, and so Tadashi began the project titled "Baymax": a nursing robot inspired by Trengrove's (stolen) artificial intelligence thesis and Tadashi's own desire to help people. However, since Tadashi was not an expert in healthcare, he asked for Lily's help to build a programming chip for the robot, which contained a large database on everything related to health; after several failed test runs in which the robot's body would malfunction, Tadashi finished Baymax and showed the invention to his friends and aunt, then kept the robot stored in his lab. Tadashi also tried to convince his younger, 14-year-old genius brother Hiro to enroll into SFIT, but Hiro claimed to be too smart for it and instead took a dangerous hobby in Bot Fighting to make money from bets, despite it being illegal.
Big Hero 6[]
One night, Tadashi agrees to takes Hiro to a bot-fight, but instead drives to the school so that Hiro can see what it's like from inside, in another attempt to convince him to join. Hiro meets Tadashi's friends, Baymax, and Callaghan, and the boy is awestruck by the place, finally convinced that he wants to attend it. Tadashi and his friends help Hiro with his new project: Microbots, to present at the annual showcase for acceptance into SFIT. On the exposition day, Hiro becomes nervous but manages to give a good presentation that impresses Callaghan—who gives Hiro his acceptance letter. Following the conclusion of the convention, a fire is started in the Exposition Hall, forcing everyone to evacuate. In reality, it was Callaghan who started the fire to seize Hiro's Microbots for himself and fake his own death. He is able to protect himself from the fire with the bots' help, but another student noticed he was still there and Tadashi is the one who decides to go look for him. However, Tadashi dies as the building explodes while he is inside.
After Tadashi's death, Baymax is taken home and Hiro becomes depressed, rejecting the SFIT letter and preparing to go back into bot-fights. However, Baymax is accidentally activated by Hiro, and after a series of events, Hiro, Baymax, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi and Go Go find out that the fire at SFIT was planned by Callaghan, who was still alive and wanted revenge against Alistair Krei because a failed experiment by Krei "killed" his daughter Abigail. The team of friends create armors and weapons based off their SFIT experiments and confront Callaghan with them, saving his daughter after learning she still lived, and finally arresting him—but losing Baymax in the process. Having avenged his brother's death, Hiro officially becomes a SFIT student and attends the school with Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred. A building dedicated to Tadashi is erected at the campus, in which Hiro accepts the honor for his late brother.
Season 1[]
As Hiro's first semester begins, Professor Granville returns to SFIT after so long to replace Callaghan, becoming the new dean and Hiro's thermodynamics teacher, but hiding her past by being announced as a new professor. Hiro goes to Tadashi's former lab, remembering him and his robot Baymax, when he notices that Baymax's healthcare chip was still safe in Baymax's armor fist and realizing that he can rebuild him. Yet, Granville forbids Hiro from doing so as she tries not to make the same mistakes she made with Bob Aken, but Hiro doesn't stop so he simultaneously attends classes while working on Baymax during his free time.
However, Bob Aken has resurfaced under the alias of Obake, and intended to "make a better city" by destroying all of San Fransokyo. He hires the criminal Mr. Yama to retrieve his energy amplifier from SFIT, so Yama uses an army of Baymax Clones to invade the school in order to retrieve it. Yet, Yama is stopped by Hiro and his friends donning their armors once more. They destroy the amplifier, and upon realizing how many lives they saved, become motivated to continue living a double life as superheroes, naming their team Big Hero 6 as suggested by Fred, and serving as a way to honor Tadashi's desire to help everyone in need. Obake watches in the shadows as the team have their first victory, while the city is unaware that he is the real mastermind behind the attack.
Granville decides to go easy on Hiro and allows him to keep Tadashi (and Obake)'s former lab, but also introduces him to bio-tech student Karmi, who used to be the youngest student prior to Hiro's enrollment, as a way to have both socialize. Though at first Karmi pretends to be friendly with Hiro, both end up becoming rivals. Hiro's circle of friends become Granville's protégés and at some point, she discovers that they are Big Hero 6, even though she keeps their secret unrevealed.
Trevor Trengrove makes a comeback at the SFIT to open a workshop for students to work alongside him, but in reality he did it because Yama had obtained evidence of him stealing Wendy Wower's thesis, so Trevor was forced to work for Yama and make the students create upgrades for Yama's new robot Mega Yama. Following Yama's defeat by Big Hero 6, Trengrove admits the truth and promises Wendy that he will do what is right and tell the world she is the real genius.
Soon, the annual "Rivalry Week" tradition is coming up and it is the first time Hiro participates in it, so he wants to help pranking SFAI by stealing their Lenore Shimamoto statue. Granville surprisingly approves of this and also gets Wasabi and Fred to try keeping the cafeteria safe from SFAI pranksters, but they fail due to their inexperience.
Granville notices the rising crime in San Fransokyo and the SFIT attacks, so she creates a Security System to attempt keeping the institute safe.
Hiro however learns slowly about Granville's past thanks to Wendy and Trevor, and becomes skeptical of her intentions, then while investigating about her, Obake hacks the security robots and forces both Hiro and Granville to be trapped inside a classroom until help arrives. There, Granville tells Hiro part about her story with Bob Aken and both later become closer as Hiro promises he will not end up like Bob did.
Another famous scientist named Liv Amara and her company Sycorax fund SFIT for a new bio-tech building, and decide to visit the institute upon learning about Baymax and Hiro Hamada. When Hiro tells her he did not create Baymax, she quickly loses interest and instead meets Karmi, causing Hiro jealousy because both girls get along well. The SFIT hold a gala for Liv where she announces the building, but the event is interrupted by a mutant monster, Orso Knox, which Big Hero 6 had previously faced and finally stop him thanks to Karmi and one of her inventions.
When Obake is close to completing his plan and the SFIT's Open House Expo is coming, Hiro decides to build an energy amplifier himself to challenge Granville, who forbid him from working on it as it was the same project that caused Aken's fate, but Hiro thought it was because Granville believed he wouldn't be able to do it.
When the day of the expo comes, Honey Lemon's project revealed the shocking fact that Lenore Shimamoto had caused the Great Catastrophe of 1906, and later Obake also walks into the SFIT for the first time in decades to steal Hiro's amplifier. He talks with Granville and "thanks" her for turning him into the man he is today, but Granville is terrified to see his face glowing from the incident. Along with his associates Globby, Noodle Burger Boy, Momakase, and Buddy Guards, they wreak havoc at the SFIT and leave when Obake obtains the item. Granville finally reveals to her students that she knows their identities, and tells them everything about Bob Aken.
When Obake's scheme is thwarted, he is presumed to have died and Hiro gives his amplifier to Granville so she can keep it locked and safe inside her office.
Layout[]
Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab[]
The center for the university's robotics program, this building was named after Professor Ito Ishioka. The building is divided into three floors entirely covered with glass to let in natural light, and is powered by solar panel. It was formerly headed by Robert Callaghan until Granville replaced him, and is currently attended by Hiro, Go Go, Wasabi and Honey. Hiro's lab is also found in it.
Hiro's Lab[]
It was formerly Bob Aken's lab until his accident made him leave, and time later it became Tadashi's workspace, given to him thanks to his hard work.
After Tadashi died, Hiro wanted to use it too in memory of his brother but Professor Granville forbid him from being inside it since she wanted him to earn it like his brother did, though later she decided to let him work in it as she believed Tadashi's legacy would prevent Hiro from following Aken's dangerous mistakes.
The lab is also where Baymax was originally created by Tadashi, and later rebuilt by Hiro.
Exposition Hall[]
This hall is where the annual showcase for applicants take place. Some companies and alumni also attend this showcase as an opportunity to hire young prodigies or even provide them a scholarship.
Periodic Table CaFe[]
It is the name given to the school's cafeteria/dining hall, which is another separate building. Its name is stylized as CaFe to represent the elements Calcium (Ca) and Iron (Fe).
Tadashi Hamada Hall[]
The building was built by Krei Tech Industries in memory of the late Tadashi Hamada who perished in the fire that consumed the Exposition Hall.
Other Versions[]
Baymax manga[]
SFIT is featured in Baymax. Though the campus is the same design as the film, the plot changes and Hiro is already attending classes alongside Tadashi. Although Hiro has already met Fred, GoGo. Honey Lemon and Wasabi, he strongly dislikes them at the beginning of the story.
The only SFIT professor shown in the manga is Professor Aquino, who initially hates Hiro and sabotages his Microbots project in an attempt to have him expelled, although he is caught and suspended. At the end of the manga, Aquino returns but he and Hiro make amends. Dr. Callaghan is not a teacher at SFIT, but is the chairman for the showcase contest in which Tadashi introduces Baymax and Hiro demonstrates the Microbots (and wins first place). Callaghan steals the Microbots as he works in secret with Tadashi at a hidden lab within SFIT to rebuild the Silent Sparrow portal. In this version of the story, there is no fire incident, as Tadashi disappears into the portal instead. Since Krei Tech is also not involved with the creation of the portal in the manga, the Akuma Island base is repurposed as a test lab also owned by SFIT on the island.
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Trivia[]
- The SFIT is similar to the Southport High School from the Marvel Comics, which is a school that Big Hero 6 attended while undercover during a mission in New York.
- The university was heavily inspired by the Presidio in San Francisco, a park and former military base with a college-like atmosphere.
- SFIT has a website under the domain www.sfit.edu[3]. However, in real life this website does not exist.
- There is some inconsistency with the university's mascot: Fred's mascot costume is a dragon/kaiju-esque creature, yet supplemental materials and items from the university have a ninja as the mascot.
- A cat with rocket boosters on its feet is briefly seen in the lab. This was based on a scrapped idea for Mochi in the film's early drafts.
- While inspired by universities in the San Francisco bay area, such as UC Berkeley and Stanford University as well as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there exists a real life SFIT (St. Francis Institute of Technology) located in Mumbai, India.
Gallery[]
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    Exposition Hall.    SFIT in the TV show.  Hiro's Lab.  Periodic Table CaFe.      SFIT Yearbook.  SFIT professors back in the day, including Granville and Callaghan.  Different logos for the institute. |