León, Gto.- In the world of educational robotics, Conalep Silao has proven to be an outstanding reference, successfully participating in the WER World Robotics Tournament (World Education Robotic) since 2016.
This educational tournament, unique in the world, aims to stimulate intellectual development, competitiveness and promote a current vision of globalization among primary, secondary and high school students.
He Robonau team It is made up of the coach and teacher Edgar Ivan Hernandez; Team Captain, Emilio Gustavo; the shipowner, Axel Natael and its programmer, Luis Angelwho study the fifth and third semester of mechatronics and computer science on campus Conalep Silao.
Since participating in 2016, Conalep Silao has achieved notable achievements. In 2019 they managed to obtain the first place and in the last tournament, held in Shanghai, Chinain 2023, with the Robonau team he obtained the fourth place worldwideestablishing itself as a constant leader in the competition.
In 2021, they positioned themselves with the third and fourth place in the national competition, which was held virtually and encouraged them, in 2022, to obtain the second placewith which they won a trip to Michigan, United States, to learn about the Ford company.
In an interview with the Mexican Editorial Organization, Edgar Ivan Hernandezwho has led the team since 2017, told the difficult but satisfying journey to achieve great things with their students.
“In 2017 I was invited to compete in robotics projects and it really was like a challenge for me, because not knowing many electromechanical topics, it was a new topic for me, I always liked challenges, so it was a matter of learning together with the kids who were in robotics and this was where the taste for this new stage of my career began and I went deeper and deeper into robotics.“, expressed Edgar Iván Hernández.
He shared his experiences and challenges as a coach, highlighting the importance of working in winning attitude and mentality of the students.
“The biggest challenge is to work with the minds of the boys, but not in terms of knowledge, In terms of attitude, change the boy’s attitude from being a simple student to having the mind of a winner and sacrifice many of their time to dedicate ourselves to this robotics training. Each year you become more expert and you begin to work better with each of the students.”.
Among the best in the world
Likewise, the students Emilio, Axel and Luis They also expressed their experiences and learnings in the world of robotics. From the analysis and programming to the development of communication and teamwork skills, the members of the Robonau team highlighted the diversity of aspects that this challenging field addresses.
“What catches my attention the most is the analysis, although, sometimes, it is what we have the least because, well, The tests are sometimes a bit stressful, but I really like analyzing the tests and above all programming them, which is like the branch of my career”Emilio commented.
For its part, Axel agreed that it improves communicationbut above all the teamwork.
“We also develop better communication because, well, In the competition you have to communicate ideas with your team to see what is bestthat what you have to do is the best option to solve a test and that is what helped me a lot in this competition“Axel asserted.
Both the students and the teacher assured that Guanajuato has stood out as a state that promotes technological educationencouraging participation in projects such as WER tournament and other state-level robotics competitions.
“What Guanajuato has done is promote this education, create skills at the technology level, robotics has had more boom in Guanajuato and what the state has done is promote or promote these projects so that the kids feel more interestedand, therefore, have greater knowledge and can excel in these competitions at an international level”, assured coach Edgar Iván Hernández.
The trip to China was an unforgettable experience for the students, who highlighted the excitement of representing your municipality, state and country on the other side of the worldand having traveled and known other countries.
They talked about the challenges faced, from complexity of testing to coordination with teams from different parts of the worldalthough they assure that speaking different languages was not a problem.
On the other hand, the support of the municipal and state governments has been fundamental to the success of the Robonau team, covering registration fees, flights and some travel expenses.
Conalep Silao continues to be an example of excellence in educational robotics, leaving its mark on the WER World Robotics Tournamenthighlighting that Guanajuato is the only state in Mexico in which teams participated in said contest.
Originally published in The Sun of León