Innovative robots demonstrated at robotics showcase
The fourth annual Robotics Exhibition, co-hosted by the El Camino College Industry and Technology Division and Robotics Club, saw a variety of robots created by students on Wednesday, May 29.
The Robotics Exhibition, hosted in the Industry Technology Education Center, allowed students to showcase the robots they’ve been working on during the semester.
Attendees voted for which robots they thought were the best and at the end of the event, the winners were given a prize.
The robot that won first place was the “F.R.O.G.” robot, which has a main function of picking up and relocating foam discs.
The person who created F.R.O.G. was Daniel Orozco, a 21-year-old student who is taking the Intro to Robotics class. Orozco won an Amazon gift card as his first place prize.
“Ever since I was young, I’ve enjoyed the process of making things,” Orozco said. “It’s really cool to see that other people like my creation…and I think I won because it was fully 3D-printed and it’s overall just fun to look at.”
The event consisted of a variety of robots, each created to serve a different purpose.
The student that took second place was Chad Tari, a 19-year-old biomedical engineering major, who created a robot named “C Tank.”
One of C Tank’s functions was to shoot and reload small orange balls.
“It was a bit hard because it took several months of work to complete,” Tari said. “I think C Tank is unique compared to other robots because of its functionality. Most of the robots here only have one or two functions, but mine has four or five, making it a little more complicated.”
After each robot demonstration, the sound of applause filled the room and faces were left with a look of astonishment.
Whitney Mallard, a 36-year-old student taking computer-aided design courses, was impressed with Orozco’s F.R.O.G. robot.
“Overall how everybody has put in a lot of effort in their projects is really cool,” Mallard said. “I voted for the F.R.O.G. robot to win because I liked that it looked like a frog…it moved around easily and the fact it could pick up the discs was really cool as well.”
Joe Weichman, a 43-year-old robotics specialist who works in the El Camino robotics organization, said he wants the best for robotics students who will graduate.
“Here, we want to establish a workforce and get students a job right away,” Weichman said. “Without having to worry about large student loans, our students can jump right into a good-paying job immediately and accumulate generational wealth for their families.”
