Sahuarita’s team of champions

Robot opens college doors for SHS seniors

Goober, the robot designed by Sahuarita High School industrial manufacturing students, is a bruiser.

Or maybe a pit bull.

Once it grabs a goal, it may never let go. In one case, it won points for ripping a physical goal apart as it pulled it out of another robot’s grasp.

One loftier goal that Goober’s human handlers have in mind is to compete for a national championship in robotics. The team is battle-tested and could win a crown in Atlanta next month, but first the team must raise about $21,000 for travel expenses, team adviser and industrial manufacturing teacher Enrique Santa Cruz said.

“In early April, we will get our ranking. We’ve beaten last year’s national champion twice, in California and in Las Vegas,” Santa Cruz said.

And the brains behind the bruiser, the students, are getting a wide variety of challenges and experiences, seeing the real-life applications of physics and calculus as seniors are wooed by college recruiters offering scholarships and acceptances at impressive schools this fall.

“I love it. It really opens up your mind. There is so much physics, calculus, all kinds of things that you might not normally use on an everyday basis,” said senior Alexis Higbee, head programmer, who is headed to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott this fall.

Other seniors are getting offers of four-year scholarships. Frank Ortiz is planning to attend prestigious Amherst (Mass.) College. Steve Myers is expecting to attend University of Arizona on a scholarship, and Arizona State University has been recruiting Abraham Camacho. Among other schools that have been recruiting the team members are University of Southern California, Ohio State, Michigan and San Diego State.

Of 19 students taking industrial manufacturing classes, 17 are on the junior or senior robotics competition teams. The seniors designed and built Goober with four motors and 10 wheels, more than most other schools’ robots, so it can gear down for what often amounts to a tug of war with other robots. It moves more slowly than most, but can move deftly.

The Sahuarita High School robotics teams are among 800 in the nation, of which 100 were invited to Atlanta for a competition running from April 16 to April 19.

Santa Cruz is trying to raise money from grants, donations or any other source to send the students and chaperones to the competition. If you are interested in contributing, contact Santa Cruz at Sahuarita High School.