Cabrillo HS students kick off 3-day robotics competition – Lompoc Record

Cabrillo High School junior Mildred Cortez said Tuesday morning that she had been looking forward to this week since her freshman year at the school.

Cortez worked closely alongside fellow junior Veronica Nolasco on Tuesday to put the finishing touches on an ROV, or remotely operated vehicle, that the students had designed and built over the past couple months with another classmate. Later that afternoon, the girls would put their creation to the test in Cabrillos on-campus pool as part of the schools annual interclass ROV competition.

This is a big part of why most people look forward to junior year, so they can build something cool, like underwater robots, Cortez said. Its just something you always think about.

The annual contest, which began in 2005, kicked off Tuesday and is slated to continue through Thursday. About 180 students, spanning six classes, are participating in the event. The students, working mostly in groups of three, built about 50 ROVs between them and will spend the three-day competition running the robots through underwater tests that include an obstacle course, a relay race and a tug-of-war battle.

Its not as easy as it looks, Nolasco said of building and controlling the ROVs. Its definitely a challenge.

This years contest was organized by Jennifer Mason, the program director for Cabrillos robotics classes. Mason, who teaches an advanced integrated science class, said it is precisely because of that challenge faced by the students that she considers the event to be so successful.

We put so much time and effort into what we do here and its really cool to see the kids and what theyve done from start to finish, Mason said prior to taking her class to the pool Tuesday. I have girls in the class who had never picked up tools before and now they know the difference between a flathead and a Phillips screwdriver.

There are kids who think they could never do this, and then they do it, she added. Its just awesome and exciting to see the thrill on their face when theyre done with their project.

The STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program is intended to give the students up-close experience with real-world skills while also learning state standards in several topics, including Earth science, chemistry and physics, among others.

The projects also span across multiple classes.

Some of the students used their time in separate graphic design classes to develop logos for their respective ROV teams. Sean Dziobaka took advantage of the skills he acquired in a separate innovations class to design new propellers for his teams ROV. He then created those propellers with a 3-D printer.

Its a lot of hands-on experience, he said.

In addition to running their robots through the competitions, each of the student teams also goes through an interview with a panel of experts in the field. Among the panelists this year are members of the aquatics program at the UCSB and professionals from defense contractor Raytheon.

At the end, the students will be awarded prizes in a range of categories.

Several of the students said theyve found the program to be beneficial beyond the classroom.

Miranda Vargas, a senior, enjoyed the program so much last year that she became a teaching assistant for Mason, primarily so she could work with this years group of students. She said her team went through its struggles last year, but it was all worth it.

A lot of it has helped in ways that I didnt think it would, she said, noting that it gave her a better understanding of basic engineering concepts.

That sentiment was shared by Brandin Goldsberry, a junior and a member of the same team as Dziobaka.

Its a lot of fun, thats for sure, Goldsberry said. Some people in this class had never picked up tools before, and now theyre learning how to do circuits, screws, basic construction principles its definitely a lot of fun.

Science teacher Chris Ladwig, whose class was the first to take over the pool deck Tuesday, said the program is also commendable for its inclusiveness.

Its really neat because a lot of robotics programs that get attention are maybe one class or one after-school group, and its maybe a dozen kids at a huge expense, he said. Whereas here, its six classes and the robots are relatively inexpensive. So this touches a huge number of kids. Its not just the honors or AP kids.

Cortez said she didnt know much about wiring or electrical components before getting involved in this program. She said she can envision several applications where the skills learned in the Cabrillo class will pay off outside of academics.

I definitely think itll be an advantage in the future and not just something fun that we did in high school, she said.

Willis Jacobson covers the city of Lompoc for Lee Central Coast Newspapers. Follow him on Twitter @WJacobsonLR.

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Cabrillo HS students kick off 3-day robotics competition - Lompoc Record