The senior quartet and its internet-meme namesake robot appeared at the 2022 Southern California Vex Robotics Championship last week.
Also, Harvey Gonzalez, Eliza Cardenas, Saul Gonzalez and Daniel Garcia were ready to dance around the competition. The appearance was the first time McFarland High School has sent a team to the state championships. The Cougars’ VEX Robotics TEAM 49637A and their robot Tilin’ qualified for the tournament after receiving the top design award at the KHSD Last Chance Valentine’s Tournament on Feb. 12.
“It is exciting,” said Eliza Cardenas about going to state. “Since we are known as the cross-country (school) and not really the robotics team.”
It is true. McFarland does have a rich cross-country history with nine state titles and even a Disney movie about the school.
But for the past six years, Harvey, Eliza, Saul and Daniel have helped coach David Cisneros build a program from top to bottom. With a corresponding program at McFarland Junior High School, the Cougars have multiple teams and a bright future.
“This is like a proud parent moment,” said Cisneros, who also teaches at McFarland. “I am cheering them on and rooting for them. It feels fantastic.”
Since middle school, Harvey, Eliza, Saul, and Daniel have shared a love of math, engineering, gaming and social media. The team named their robot Tilin’ after the Peruvian youngster who became a sensation and meme dancing.
“There is a song that goes with it,” Harvey said about the name.
“And yeah, it (our robot) moves really fast too,” Eliza added.
Memes, jokes and dancing aside, the team has a passion and fondness for robotics and engineering. The quartet spends five to six hours a week, outside of school, preparing their bot.
They focus on everything from the physical design, programming, driving of the robot and the controls. The team, thanks to Saul, kept detailed notes as the notebook taker and improved the robot after every competition.
“The notebook is full-on, in-depth and detailed with pictures and drawings,” Harvey said.
The team overcame a pandemic that canceled robotics their junior year and interrupted it during their sophomore year. And now, as seniors, they are representing the Cougars at state.
“We are all in disbelief,” Saul said. “Year after year, we have been doing robotics, but we have always expected the worst since we never got anything out of it (competitions). This year being the first year we got the (KHSD) award, we were all shocked because we all like doing it for the fun and experience, but we are getting something out of it and able to go to state.”
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