Local Student Wins Big in Las Vegas

Congratulations to Lizbeth Guzman, a student at the Preuss School, UCSD, and her team for an amazing showing in a recent high school robotics event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each year, teams from all over the country are asked to design, prototype, and build a robot over a six week period. The task is to construct a game-playing robot that can weigh up to 120 pounds and is capable of performing many different tasks. Making this daunting challenge even more difficult is that while each team is given a rulebook, that they must adhere to for the design of the robot, they are on their own to build the most efficient and versatile robot possible and do not know the tasks it will perform until just prior to the individual competitions. The teams are then challenged with missions such as scoring balls into goals, throwing frisbees long distances, placing inner tubes onto racks and even balancing their robot on balance beams. Of course, the goal of the events change annually, motivating students to be more innovative and think differently each year as they progress through their high school career.Lizbeth loved traveling with her team and regarded it as an amazing experience. “The Las Vegas competition was an event I had been waiting to attend for a long time, because the excitement of these types of events never ceases to amaze me.” She went on to say that “robotics events are where I feel most at home, speaking with others who share a common passion.”She met many new people who she hopes to keep in contact with throughout the year in order to help improve her team and also help others through their season. Lizbeth not only enjoyed her experience but was also able to learn a lot from it. As president of her high school’s team she had many responsibilities both with planning and also throughout the trip with her team, that have made her a better leader, improved her time management, and has given her more guidance towards what she wants to pursue later in life.To document this incredible trip, she used money from her A Bridge for Kids sponsorship to purchase a GoPro camera. “The camera helped our team promote themselves and keep others informed about our progress throughout season and events that the team hosts.” Now she’s using everything she learned from competition and is currently working to instill this into her team, so they can have an even stronger season next year.Congratulations Lizbeth on a job well done!