Robotics | canyonridgehigh

Robust Robotics

By: Anthony Medina

Think of a world filled with trials, tribulations, and vigorous determination, a world in which the urge to give up constantly grows stronger and yet the responsibility to your peers keeps you going.

Did you think of Robotics? Perhaps not.

These obstacles and many more are what lie in wait on a daily basis for our Canyon Ridge Robot Jocks. A constant struggle filled with frustration and stress even before the competition begins, and despite this, the students who dare to brave this endeavour have no regrets about doing so.

In fact thanks to robotics, Gabriel Vega, who has been in the program for three months has, “gained new insight on how technology works.”

In the Vex Robotics Competition our Robot Jocks are somewhat of an underdog story, being the only continuation school in the league as well as having only months of experience.

They compete against the comprehensive high schools with some of their contenders having three or four years each.

He's will do anything and everything in his power to assist his proteges, assuming it even comes close to that point. Because of our team’s determination, they have gained an immense amount of respect and prestige.

Ending their hard fought season with more more wins than losses, our Robot Jocks are currently working on some of their more casual side projects being free of most, if not all, the stress of competition.

A rough and trying season is the price they had to pay, and it is a price they paid willingly as it has offered a unique and powerful experience.

When asked about the past season some robotics students had this to say:

“We did really good considering we were up against 40 teams.”-Godoy
“We tried our best and the support from our peers was great as we made it to semi-finals.”-Guerra
“This past season was exciting.”-Vega

With all the experience acquired through the robotics training they received from Mr.Mayeda our very own Robot Jocks are more than capable to lead the cyborg domination of our world and many others to come.

Yet their perseverance has allowed them to hold their own and even come away with a few victories.

This underestimation of our school is apparently reflective to our own Jeanette Godoy as she commented,“They have better equipment funds, so they think they’re better than our school.”

However, these victories are not as easily won as you would think. For each minute and forty five seconds of competition, an estimated fifteen to twenty minutes of maintenance has to be invested in the robots just to keep them operating efficiently.

Issac Guerra is very familiar with this maintenance process as he noted that, “We check our bags for the correct tools before the competition. The batteries must be charged and the robot must be functioning.”

This process is filled with problem solving and a strong work ethic that Mr.Mayeda attempts to ingrain into his students competitive and outside lives.

Despite all the strife one thing that Mayeda is adamantly against is giving up.

Mayeda outright refuses to allow his students to give up.