The Nipomo High School Titan Robotics Club kicked some shiny metal butt on Nov. 13 at the High Desert VEX Tournament in Hesperia, Calif.
The club’s Robot 563 went 3-2 in the qualifying matches, and then 2-1 in its quarterfinal match, but lost 1-2 in the semi-final match. Robot 563B finished its qualifying rounds 4-1 and went 2-0 in the quarterfinal, 2-1 in the semi-final, and 2-1 in the finals.
“The team had an outstanding tournament and showed great sportsmanship,” NHS math teacher and robotics advisor Greg Garcia said in an e-mail to the media.
The win qualified the club for its fourth consecutive VEX World Robotics Championships, which will be held in April 2011 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Center at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. But the Nipomo robot enthusiasts plan to compete in at least two more local tournaments before the championship in an attempt to qualify more robots.
The NHS robotics club is composed of senior members Mikkel Sandberg and Nefi Lazalde and rookies Kristian Chavez, Michael Ebeling, DJ Llorente Blankenburg, Scott Gaddis, Ali Gomez, Mandy Liu, Mona Liu, Victoria Kaml, and Selene. The students meet after school one to two times a week to “plan, build, try, fail, rebuild, and succeed with a robot design which can successfully compete,” Garcia said in the e-mail.
“This is just another example of our students doing a fantastic job and demonstrating 21st century skills with the high standards taught by the great people of the Lucia Mar District,” Garcia added.
The group has started fundraising to pay for the trip to Orlando. Garcia expects he’ll need a budget of approximately $30,000 to pay for the registration fee and airfare, and hotel, food, and other fees. In the past, the school has also used some of the funds to offer scholarships to students on the club.
For more information about the club and fundraising events, visit titanrobotics.info or e-mail ggarcia@lmusd.org.
This article appears in Dec 9-16, 2010.