Robotics Team Awarded at Competition
The team poses at the BEST competition.
October 27, 2009 • Molly K.
Filed under Top Stories
The UA Robotics Team took 4th place in the October 24 Dallas BEST tournament at the University of Texas at Dallas, thereby qualifying to compete in the Texas BEST competition.
In addition to their 4th place finish, the RoboBears won the YouTube Video Award. The team collaborated on the winning video with members of the Video Production Club. The video stars club members along with “Amelia”, the club’s robot from last year, and can be found on both YouTube and The Bear Facts‘ website.
This year’s competition theme is “High Octane”, referring to the ongoing problem of finding a replacement for fossil fuels. Each team was challenged to create a robot that would gather materials and place them in a sequence to simulate a chemical reaction producing an alternative fuel. Five team members drive the robot while another guides the drivers.
“It’s really intense,” BRAIN Director Kristina H. ’10 said. “There’s a large crowd of people all around you while you are driving the robot.”
The team started working on their robot after Kick Off on September 12. Club members spent six weeks preparing for the competition.
“We were there almost every day after school for about two hours,” Kristina explained.
“We built several prototypes and then used the robot that worked best,” President Flora P. ’10 added.
Along with building and operating the robot, the team had to complete other tasks to fulfill the requirements of the competition. Team members must complete an engineering journal, design a website, give an interview and an oral presentation in front of a panel of judges, and create a display. All of these assignments require work outside of school in addition to building the robot and completing the piles of Ursuline homework.
Texas BEST takes place December 4-5 at the University of North Texas and includes teams from all over Texas and New Mexico. Out of the 24 competing teams at Dallas BEST, only the top five can advance to Texas BEST.
The Bear Facts staff congratulates the Robotics Team on their success and wishes them good luck at their next competition.
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I think that “RoboBears” has to be the coolest name for a group ever. Congrats, you guys, and I know you’ll do well. You guys should totally break it down to “Mr. Roboto”… FYI (that would make my life
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