The robotics team from Española New Mexico’s Café Scientifique has quietly become an international powerhouse in the world of competitive robotics. Pitted against teams from across the world, Española’s team finished the tournament on top, when it came to building and programing a robot at the 2016 International RoboRAVE held in Albuquerque, N.M. on May 7-8.
The Española team, comprised of four local high school teens—Sergio Madrid, Cristian Madrid, Emmett Moulton, and Liam Silverman —were challenged to design, build, and program a robot capable of completing an elevated maze in three minutes or less. The faster the team could complete the task, the higher the overall score.
This team grew out of a night of robotics offered by the Café Scientifique New Mexico (cafenm.org) in 2013. Engineers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and UNM-Los Alamos enthralled the teens with stories of how robotics would change our lives, which got them started building their own robots. This is the teams second time competing in RoboRave International (in 2014 and 2016) and took first place both times.
Please help spread the word and help the Española team build the program and compete at an International level by visiting their fundraising page on youcaring.com and donating what you can.
