Warhorse Robotics Team lands Rookie Inspiration award

On the team roster are: Jeremiah Cardenas, Brian Custodio, Hunter Erwin, Christian Esparza, Nathan Fuentes, Tommy Hinkle, Ted Hinkle, Eli James, Curtis Kuykendall, Ashley Mattke, Felix Mendoza, David Rendon, Ace Sosa, and Trinity Spurgers.

For the #FRC9311 Warhorse Robotics Team, this is their rookie year, competing in the FIRST In Texas District Qualifiers for the International FRC robotics competition.
“The heart that these kids have and how they work together (and sometimes apart) to achieve the best engineered robot is so impressive,” said one parent.
Last week, DHS Robotics went to Waco, and never before having been to a FRC, Warhorse Robotics finished 23 out of 41 teams. This past weekend they were in Belton. Working hard and working with 2 other teams to win alliances and move forward, these young students adapted and moved up the ranks.
Of 76 qualification rounds, the team played in 12 rounds. They placed in the top 8 teams. The team went into the finals as an alliance leader before getting knocked out in round 3 of the Finals.
With 3 more weeks of District Qualifying events happening across the state, the Warhorse Robotics team is just waiting to see if their score lands them in the top 80 out of 247 teams in the state. If so, Devine will compete at the FIT District Championships in Houston April 5th through the 8th.
They received the “Rookie Inspiration” Award at this event, celebrating the team’s outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers, both within their school, as well as in their community.
On the team roster are: Jeremiah Cardenas, Brian Custodio, Hunter Erwin, Christian Esparza, Nathan Fuentes, Tommy Hinkle, Ted Hinkle, Eli James, Curtis Kuykendall, Ashley Mattke, Felix Mendoza, David Rendon, Ace Sosa, and Trinity Spurgers.
Coach Jim Wilcox stated, “I am so proud of the way these kids can ‘adapt and overcome’. It’s something I try to teach to all my students, and it is especially gratifying to see it play out in the real world. The experience these kiddos get competing at this level is priceless. They improved exponentially from Week 1 in Waco to Week 2 in Belton. In Waco we were just trying to survive, then in Belton we were straight up competing. It was awesome to witness.”
“I’d like to give a special shout out to my young Freshman Programmer, Brian Custodio. He came to me often saying, ‘Mr. Wilcox, we have a problem,’ but with a little push, he ALWAYS figured out a solution to the problem. His perseverance is inspiring….I want to thank Mr. Gonzalez for giving us the push and backing to make this tremendous endeavor happen. I also need to thank HEB for their generous grant, Keely Construction for donating their services to build parts that the kids designed.”
If there is anyone else out in the community who wants to donate to this unique, people-building experience Devine Robotics would love to partner with you.
More about it….
We worked on the robot for 7 weeks, going from Idea, to Concept, Design, Prototype, then the Final Product.
The Robot weighs in at 92 lbs.
The Robot is comprised of a driving base and a vertical raise-and-lower arm assembly with a pneumatic end-effector used to pick up and place the air-filled cube and cone game pieces.
There is a 15 second autonomous period at the beginning of every match where the robot must go score points without human controls. The remaining 135 seconds is the “tele-op” period, where the kids have to drive and operate the robot to get game pieces and score points.
The kids have to be in an alliance with 2 other schools/teams for every match, so they have to strategize and cooperate. This type of gameplay is something that FIRST has coined “coopertition”.