The YANZU Robotic team of the Puerto Peñasco COBACH high school recently placed 4th at the World Educational Robot Contest (WER) held in late November in Shanghai, China, and 28th overall among 300 participating teams.
Along with competing on an international level, YANZU team members Felipe Alarcón Arreola, Rafael Espinoza Navarro, Sofía Meléndez Tiznado and advisor Jesús Daniel Flores Hernández, relished in the experience of meeting people from across the globe while enjoying new experiences and new cultures.
The students, who were recognized with a special ceremony at the local COBACH upon their return, highlighted their experiences. Sofía Melendez detailed, “It was like seeing a bit of another part of the world; we met people from Ethiopia, England, Bosnia, Malaysia, and Dubai (UAE), among others, while using English for everything. The competition brought us together, it was a way to share experiences, exchange coins, and we were able to see it’s not a utopian vision to imagine Mexico becoming important within robotics.”
Similarly, Rafael Espinoza expressed, “It was really incredible; I never imagined myself in China at just 15 years old. We are at a high level, and there were groups that were really good who provided tremendous competition, and others not so much. The Chinese are at another level, robotics forms part of their educational system.”
Numerous businesses, along with the local administration, individual donors, and fundraising through their own “Shanghai-ton” event made YANZU’s trip to the World Educational Robot Contest possible.
Along with YANZU, the ALFA team of the Nuevo Hermosillo school in Hermosillo took part in the WER competition, taking 7th place and ranking 45th overall. Both teams are to be recognized later this month in Hermosillo by Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano.