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It was another year to remember for the Tehachapi High School robotics team.
Burning the midnight oil the past three months, overcoming technical obstacles, and taking on travel time to San Diego and Las Vegas for pressure-packed competition, the journey has officially come to an end for the Cyber Penguins.
But if you ask a Penguin, the challenge was well worth the end result.

“I learned more this year than in my past two years combined,” said Robotics Team member Michael Taberner. “Overcoming everything that went wrong with the robot was difficult, but we met the challenge.”

The effort this year in building an “Overdrive” robot was completed by fusing many of the brightest young minds in Tehachapi High School along with some of the most talented mentors in the area from Edwards AFB, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Arcata Associates, and NASA-Dryden.

The three-month long challenge of assembling and engaging their robot for competition was rewarded at last month’s Las Vegas Regional, with the end result netting two coveted awards given to Team 585 – Tehachapi.

"Our team has grown considerably this year and this has enabled us to tackle new areas of the program that were luxuries in the past,” said Team Mentor Tom McMullen. “The students stepped up to the challenge and did an admirable job.”

The Cyber Penguins received the Judges’ Award based on Tehachapi’s robot demonstrating unique effort, performance, or dynamics, and the Autodesk Visualization Award from Autodesk, Inc. for recognized excellence in student animation that clearly and creatively illustrates the spirit of the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition
Since early January, a total of 31 Tehachapi High Students have participated in the FIRST program.

Over the years, Team 585 has participated in eleven regional competitions, four national tournaments (including a near-National Championship), first place in an Arizona Regional, and placing in Web site, safety, and animation honors, and Delphi’s “Driving Tomorrow’s Technology” award along with this season’s Judges and Visualization honors.

“With the enthusiasm (we had this year) I would expect the team to win the coveted Chairman's Award in the coming years," added McMullen.

For more information on the robot that the Cyber Penguins built, you can visit the team website at www.team585.org or the competition site www.usfirst.org.