Team Gooba Dooba from the South Plains College Reese Center campus was crowned champions in the 2022 Tin-Man Robotics competition held recently in Building Six.
The Tin Man contest featured three preliminary rounds and one redemption round before the final battle. The final round featured three teams from SPC Reese Center – Havoc, Gooba and Panda Sitters as well as Little Jack, who won the redemption round to secure a place in the finals.
The competition featured teams from Littlefield High School, SPC Reese Center, the STAR Center from Levelland, Sunray High School and Lazbuddie High School.
The Littlefield High School team featured Ricky Garcia, Carlos Roque, Dom Medina, Calvin Morgan, Izreal Sierra, Ian Moore, Jonah Ortega, Zander Tillman, Rosie Loredo and Andrew McDonald.
Team Gooba Dooba of SPC Reese Center was comprised of Kyle Whittaker, sophomore from Denver City; Ryan Terry, sophomore from Ropes; and Isaiah Casados, sophomore from Dalhart.
Team Venom from the STAR Center included Kayla Martinez, Christian Lopez, Skye Lopez, Karen Walulu, Brayan Hernandez and Alma Guevara, coach.
The Sunray team featured Blakelee Sladek, Gizelle Borunda, Tory Trahern, Alessandro Zamarripa, Miguel Chacon, Clay Sumrow, Jonathan Ochoa, Alexys Aguinaga, Luke Rogers, Brayson Hutches, Garett Moss, Kelton Keisling, Sally Kimbrell, Justin Bain and Kevin Dougherty, coach.
The Lazbuddie team was comprised of Halley Wales, Dalton Copley, Ryelan Mason, Luke Kerr, Bo Kerr, Macy Davis, Aidan Ontiveros, Carson Davis, Willie Martens, Jackson Gable, Dwight Dyck and Jill Prather, coach.
The contest judges were Denise Johansen, assistant professor of mathematics at SPC; Marshall Allen and John Demeter, who presented the Tin-Man trophy to the winning team.
The IMET Program includes the Robotics course as part of the electronics curriculum. Among the concepts introduced range from what is a robot through the construction of a home-made Computer Numerical Control machine. Industrial robotics is emphasized throughout the curriculum.