Adda Avendaño
Technical prowess, problem-solving abilities, ingenuity, and teamwork were the main ingredients that led the Iotronic robotics team from the Polivirtual system of the Centro de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos (CECyT) 9 "Juan de Dios Bátiz" to secure their spot in the MakeX robotics world championship, to be held in November of this year in China.
The polytechnic students clinched the first place in the national MakeX Challenge Ultimate Winner competition, which challenges participants' logical thinking with teamwork strategies and the resolution of various technical problems in building a robot capable of manual and autonomous tasks.
Luis Leonardo Chavarría Arreola and Luis Enrique Ramírez Chavarría, students of the Software Development technical career at CECyT 9, along with Luis Ricardo Chavaría Arreola, a Programming student at the Centro de Investigación en Ciencia Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada (CICATA), Querétaro Unit, aged 16, 15, and 14 respectively, have managed to overcome the difficulties and challenges posed by distance learning.
The youths' experience in such competitions dates back to the 2022 MakeX national tournament. There, they were crowned champions in the Smart Link category, which involved the construction and manipulation of an mBot V1.1 for manual ball collection, earning them a spot in the Thailand world championship in December 2022.
In 2023, they also participated in the same competition in the Challenge category, which entails more demands and technical challenges, and despite being a team that has to prepare virtually, they secured the top spot to qualify for the MakeX Robotics Competition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Thus, at the Middle Eastern event held in November 2023, the Iotronic team members showcased their technical knowledge and skills in the Challenge category against teams from around the world. In alliance with the representatives from the United Arab Emirates, they secured the second place, in addition to clinching the first spot in the category of Best Engineering Notebook.
"We are passionate about robotics and committed to our technological development. Each competition has been a learning opportunity that we add to our experience, and also the trips, like the one to the United Arab Emirates, enriched us not only as students but also as individuals," they commented.
The polytechnic students added that both their participation and their victories would not have been possible without the support of the management of CICATA Querétaro, led by Dr. Juan Bautista Hurtado, as part of their support strategies for Polivirtual. They provided the necessary infrastructure and facilitated successful training under Coach Fernando Juárez Sánchez.
Among the plans of the Iotronic team for the current year are attending the national First tournament in March, with an eye on the world championship in Houston; the national Minisumo competition in July, and in December, the MakeX world championship in China. In the meantime, they continue their upper secondary education virtually.
Gaceta Politécnica #1771. (January 31st, 2024). IPN Imagen Institucional: Read the full magazine in Spanish here.
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