The Moorpark College engineering club got 20th out of 54 teams in the Vex U Robotics World Championship in Kentucky over April 15-18.

They competed against teams from Brazil, Spain, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and more.

Juan Erazo, one of five students from the team who went to Kentucky, said Moorpark College was the only team in California to make it to the playoffs. They lost to a Mexican university because one of their robots stopped working in the middle of a match. As a result, other colleges in California offered Moorpark College assistance with their malfunctioning robot.

“CSUN and Mt. Sac offered to take pieces off their robots and give it to us,” said Erazo.

Worchester Massachusetts University won 1st place by beating the Auckland Robotics Association from New Zealand in the finals.

Dr. Scarlett Relle, the student advisor to the Engineering Club, is nonetheless proud to have sent her students to Kentucky to compete in the world championship.

“It really provides them with an opportunity to explore what real world engineering is about,” said Relle.