Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
The Loop's Local Scene
The THS Robotics team Cyber Penguins showcase their robot "Toasty".
Kaitlyn Ehrlich, Roquel (Rocky) Ramirez, Blake Olson, and Jelly Romero.
Cyber Penguins Team 585 with Toasty.
Toasty about to climb the rope.
Future robotic club candidates were encouraged to build a dome shaped structure from rolled newspaper.
Lunch with Zack Scrivner was one of the raffle items.
Nearly 75 silent raffle items were up for bid.
THS Science Teacher and Robotic Club adviser Danielle Evansic.
Club Officers and club corporate sponsors pose for a photo.
At their chili cook-off fundraiser Saturday, Feb. 25, the Tehachapi High School Robotics Team 585 (Cyber Penguins) unveiled their 2017 competition robot. This year's competition theme is Steampunk and the robot must perform functions using gears. The THS robot, named Toasty because of its color, maneuvers up to a suspended cord, grabs it and pulls itself up the cord. The team will be showing their robot in Sacramento, Las Vegas and, hopefully, the championship in Houston. The Tehachapi team works with a $4,000 budget, much smaller than some schools that have a budget of over $10,000.
The Cyber Penguins are spearheaded by team President Jelly Romero who is also Electrical Lead. After graduation, Jelly plans to attend Cal Poly. Project Manager Kaitlyn Ehrlich is also lead programmer and robot painter. Kaitlyn will be attending the Air Force Academy after graduation and studying electrical and mechanical engineering. Blake Olson is in charge of Toasty. He works with the team and manufactures and prints the parts for the robot. He has been accepted to Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and has also been offered a summer paid internship at Lockheed Martin. In addition, it was his chili that won the cook-off. Roquel (Rocky) Ramirez is in charge of community outreach. Although still a Junior, Rocky has her eyes on UC Davis when she graduates.
The entire robotics club is also involved with extending STEM interest to the lower grades and the community. The Junior Team (ages 6-9) currently has 75 members, First Lego League (FLL) includes ages 9-11 and has 40 members. First Tech Challenge (FTC) has 6 middle school members. "Middle schoolers are tough," says Rocky, "they don't want to be seen as nerds." The club visits every classroom from grade 1-5 and have assemblies at all the Tehachapi schools.
