Otay Ranch High School’s five-member freshman team 507D recently earned a bid to compete at a world championship competition in April.
The team, along with three other groups from Otay Ranch, participated at the VEX Robotics Design System competition in Poway in December, but it was 507D which allied with the winning team. As a reward Hawri Jabari, Jay Parikh, Steven Salazar, Helena Salvi, Rosa Miranda and the robot they call Princess are guaranteed a spot at championships in Orlando.
Every robot was put to the test in a game VEX Robotics called round up, the object of the game is to earn a higher score than the opponent by scoring tubes upon goalposts, owning goalposts and by low hanging or high hanging from a ladder placed in the center of a playing field.
To do well, the robot would have the ability to pick up tubes and travel with them to drop off at a different location. The top 12 teams are able to pick any other team to ally with during the final matches, Murrieta chose 507D.
High school chemistry teacher and robotics team mentor Hayley Salazar said she started the program at Otay Ranch last year after seeing a need for it. She said students interested in technology and engineering had no outlets to get the experience college and job recruiters seek.
“We had nothing to offer these kids wanting to be engineers; it’s as if they were at the wrong school,” Salazar said. “At this point, they are blowing me out of the water. The skills they are gaining in team work and programming are skills employers are looking for; if I had a company I would hire them.”
Salazar started with one team of eight students last year and they built their robot with spare parts provided by neighboring high schools with robotics teams.
At the beginning of this school year, Salazar said she had about 40 students interested in joining a team but no funds to build so many robots.
It was through monetary donations from Otay Ranch Principal Jose Brosz and other programs at the high school that the robotics program was able to buy the equipment necessary to build four robots to compete at VEX Robotics events.
Despite having to raise about $5,000 to send the five members of 507D and herself to the championships, Salazar said the 507D team is preparing Princess the robot to compete.
Hawri, 14, who was at the controlls of the robot, said he has enjoyed the process of making the robot because they are able to use their own ideas to build.
“I like how we just get parts and we can make what our imagination tells us,” he said. “At the beginning of the year we didn’t know what we were doing. After months of work it was a great reward to compete and get into the championships.”
Rosa, 14, said she joined the robotics team because she is interested in going to Cal Tech and wanted the experience on her resume. She said that compared to her teammates she was not too familiar with robotics but said she was instrumental in strategizing ways to keep parts of the robots up so they functioned well.
“Building the robot was stressful at some points,” she said. “However, this experience has taught me that in technology small errors can affect the entire process.”
Both Hawri and Rosa said they are excited to get to the championships to see how other teams make their robots function.
Salazar, who started the robotics team, does not give herself credit for the work the students are doing.
“I just provide the environment; I get out of their way so they can figure it out on their own,’ she said.
