It was a mega moment for Meta^Infinity, a student-led community robotics team from Highland Park.
Joining hands with Katatroniks, a robotics team from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, the students formed team MetaTroniks and went on to win first place at the international RoboRAVE Competition held recently in Puerto Vallarta.
Lucas Hoobler, Brian Farkas, Jeffery Farkas and Annika Melchor-Juhl were the four high schoolers out of the eight-member Meta^Infinity team that attended the competition. Their counterparts from the Puerto Vallarta team included Sylvana Altamirano, Brayan Uriel Robles, Osvaldo Briseño and Danna Soto Ramírez.
The combined team MetaTroniks competed in the entrepreneurial division of the RoboRAVE Competition, during which contestants were tasked with identifying a critical real-world challenge and then developing, coding and programming a robot to help solve it.
MetaTroniks built a robotic boat to help combat ocean pollution. The vessel included a net to capture plastics and a magnetic arm to capture metal on the ocean floor.
To secure a win, the teams had to formally pitch their robot concept to judges and the audience.
The team MetaTroniks came together following an initiative by the Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation.
Carole Wolfe, president of the foundation, said she worked with her counterpart, Paula Martinez of the Puerto Vallarta Sister Cities Committee, to connect the robotics teams and secure funding.
“Excited to collaborate with Highland Park students but lacking resources, the Puerto Vallarta team received funding from the Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation and the Highland Park team assisted in purchasing the robot components,” Wolfe said. “When the opportunity of the RoboRAVE competition in Puerto Vallarta arose, the foundation sponsored the exchange.”
Over long Zoom calls and virtual weekly meetings, the two teams collaborated and exchanged ideas for the competition.
Gabriel Soto, from Katatroniks in Mexico, said, “We used different robotic platforms at each school, so it was a wonderful experience for the teams to share knowledge.”
Dr. Athena Hoobler, a pediatrician and mom to team member Lucas Hoobler, chaperoned the team to Mexico.
“The experience was so meaningful for the Highland Park students that they are excited to host the Puerto Vallarta team this summer, sharing our city and culture while preparing together for the world championship and possibly a local FTC competition,” she said.
The members of Meta^Infinity met as freshmen on the HPHS robotics team. They maintain that while they enjoyed competing for the high school, they wanted more time to spend on their robots and decided to form a community robotics team.
“As a community team, we are responsible for fundraising, finding a meeting location, arranging transportation for events, organizing mentors, etc,” said Lucas Hoobler, who does outreach for the team. “But the advantage is that we could spend as much time as we want on outreach programs.”
Recently, the team members stood in frigid cold outside a local grocery store selling candy and chocolates to help raise funds for their next competition.
While this might be the first international win for Meta^Infinity, the team gained attention in the past too. They have been participating in the First Tech Championship and are currently ranked as the No. 2 team in Illinois.
Next month they have an important state qualifier at Highland Park High School. If they excel there, they could compete at the FTC World Championship.
For now, the team members are also excited about the world championship in Osaka, Japan.
“We are incredibly excited about Japan. Its rich culture and strong emphasis on learning and STEM make it an inspiring experience for all our members,” Lucas Hoobler said.
As for the trip logistics, Carol Wolfe said, “If the students determine that this is feasible based on the timing of their college orientations, they will present a proposal to the board of directors. The board would then decide how to proceed.”
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