Young robot programmers battle it out

Friday, April 17, 2009

Local students displayed their knowledge of robotics to their families, peers and judges at the "Save the Bay" Robotics Challenge in Waldorf on April 4.

Groups of fifth- and seventh-grade students from schools in St. Mary's, Charles and Montgomery counties converged at North Point High School to put their technical skills and environmental knowledge to the test through competition.

The Robotics Challenge, sponsored by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division and the National Defense Education Program, was the culmination of 16 weeks of programming, engineering and research by the students in an effort to broaden their knowledge of science, math and engineering.

During the 16-week period, students went on field trips, conducted research and worked in small teams to construct and program robots capable of performing simulated tasks autonomously on an obstacle course modeled after the Chesapeake Bay.

The National Defense Education Program donated Lego NXT robot kits to each of the teams. Then, each team constructed its robot and programmed it to perform various functions using Robolab software. To develop robots capable of performing tasks, the students learned how to use infrared, light, rotation, sonar and touch sensors.

Professional engineers and technical students from the College of Southern Maryland assisted the teams during the programming and development of the robots.

While the fifth-grade teams demonstrated their robots' capabilities at the competition, the seventh-grade teams did not compete against each other. The seventh-grade teams will have their robots evaluated in-school since their challenges were more difficult.

In keeping with the "Save the Bay" theme, the teams were required to program their robots to perform up to eight environmentally conscious tasks including cleaning up a power plant, removing invasive species from the bay and preventing land erosion.

Two members from each team had three minutes to make their robot perform as many tasks as possible while teammates, mentors and family members watched from close by.

Judges awarded teams points for the tasks their robots completed, and deducted points from teams who touched their robots after they began their missions, explained Sam Osborne, a high school student and judge at the competition.

Though the robotics competition was the main attraction, judges evaluated the teams based on other factors including a research project, teamwork, technical proficiency and overall performance.

The research project required teams to examine current solutions to environmental problems in the Chesapeake Bay, and discover ways to improve upon the existing methods to meet future challenges. The teams had to select one of the tasks their robot was programmed to perform, investigate it further as a research topic and present their findings to the judges.

The fifth- and seventh-grade teams with the top three scores for overall performance also won an invitation to a six-day summer camp at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

St. Mary's winners

Grade 5 Robotics competition

First place: St. John's Tornadoes (Samantha Long, Kyle Boothe, Daniel Kolwey, Rachel Selby, Carl Elkins, Maddie Raley)

Second place: St. John's Silver Bolts (Hannah Wichrowski, Rebecca Tennyson, Steffen Lindauer, Shannon Burke, Jake Kuchta)

Grade 5 teamwork

First place: Little Flower Chemical Bomb (Will Holden, Jalyha Kyles, Ally Gardiner, Patrick Bouchard, Kaylee Wright, Harry Hewson, Isaac Waters)

Second place: Chesapeake Charter Team 2 (Cameron Danelley, Rachel Mclaughlin, Carlie Poole, Collin Songy, Ryan Wick)

Third place (in three-way tie): Father Andrew White Crustaceans (Alanna Daley, Madisson Wood, Joseph Brown, Nick Ragland, Isabella Lopez, Cullen Taylor, Kyle Cusic)

Grade 5 technical interview (technical proficiency)

First place (in four-way tie): Chesapeake Charter Team 1 (Addalyn Borghardt, Joseph Herbert, Kentwuan Wills, Karly Winegardner, Karissa Jennings); Chesapeake Charter Team 2 (Cameron Danelley Rachel Mclaughlin, Carlie Poole, Collin Songy, Ryan Wick); Little Flower Chemical Bomb (Will Holden, Jalyha Kyles, Ally Gardiner, Patrick Bouchard, Kaylee Wright, Harry Hewson, Isaac Waters)

Third Place (in four-way tie): St. John's Silver Bolts (Hannah Wichrowski, Rebecca Tennyson, Steffen Lindauer, Shannon Burke, Jake Kuchta)

Grade 5 research

First place: Chesapeake Charter Team 1 (Addalyn Borghardt, Joseph Herbert, Kentwuan Wills, Karly Winegardner, Karissa Jennings)

Third place: Father Andrew White Crustaceans

Grade 5 overall

First place: Father Andrew White Crustaceans

Second place: Father Andrew White Krusty Crabs (Mary Helen Wise, Abigail Padgett, Matty Guana, Jonathon Norris, Jake Vallandingham, Brett Bell, Kiran Kaur, Kevin Williams)

Grade 7 teamwork

First place: St. John's Robo Police (Michael Mills, Jackie Smedley, Caroline Cannon, Julie Johnson, Krystal Alvey, Maddie Bennett)

Second place: Father Andrew White Silverfins (Bill Frech, Madison Taylor, Paul Pietsch, Natalie Krissoff, Michael Gauna, Victoria Robey-Hicks)

Third place (tie): St. John's Terminators (Joss Goldsborough, Nick Jones, Madeleine Taylor, Sarah Selby, Mary Williams, Lexi Glockner); St. John's Disco Bots (Julie Johnson, Kristen Raley, Jacob Cullison, Michael Dugan, Abby Brugman)

Grade 7 technical interview

First place: Father Andrew White Tides (Matthew Johnson, Lexie Trader, Buddy Burcham, Katie Anderson, Alex Buckler, Nick Wilson)

Second place: St. John's Blue Lightning (Mary Kate Morgan, Jeff Henkel, Amelia Dixon, Karly Thompson, Angie Goldsborough, Jodie Buddenbohn)

Third place: St. Mary's Mighty Pandas (Emily Bailey, Dominic Benedict, Leah Hamel, Samantha Smallwood, Tyler Ward, Nick Blush, Ryan Miller)

Grade 7 research

First place: Father Andrew White Wahoos (Ethan Rudman, Nivea Ohri, Rohan Singh, Lauren Munns, Joseph Martin, Stephanie Schindler)

Second place: St. John's Terminators

Grade 7 overall

First place: Father Andrew White Wahoos

Second place: St. John's Robo Police

Third place: Father Andrew White Tides

Fourth place: Father Andrew White Silverfins