By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

A local, summer robotics team ​pushed Texas to second place in the nationwide Zero Robotics competition. In mid-August, the local Zero Robotics team named Astro Stryke worked with astronauts at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“Austin is a very competitive, academic environment. I was very proud to represent Austin and Texas and come out on top of the many qualified competitors across the US,” said Rice Province, Vandegrift HS freshman.

Nine states were invited to participate in Zero Robotics, which was developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This is the first year Texas was invited to participate, and only five teams were selected out of hundreds of applicants in the state.

“We are very fortunate to be selected along with Kealing MS in Austin,”said Gloria Lam-Parker, volunteer coordinator and Hill Country Education Foundation board member. HCEF supported the program.

Four Points MS and Canyon Ridge MS students made up the summer Zero Robotics team. Some of those team members are now VHS freshmen.

“Two middle schools who are rivals during the school year, can come together and work as a team and compete at a high level,” said Nate Beasley, VHS freshman. “We did not know each other at first, but we got to know each other and learn from each other and because of that teamwork we placed second.”

Maryland/DC came in first. The final round was Maryland/DC, Ohio and Texas.

“Texas performed consistently with points 22/16 at the qualifying rounds. At the very last round, Maryland/DC edged out Texas by scoring 24 points,” Lam-Parker said.

Zero Robotics is a five-week STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum that introduces students to computer programming, robotics, and space engineering, and provides hands-on programming experience.

“The best thing I liked about joining Zero Robotics was being able to meet students who enjoy programming from both CRMS and FPMS,” said Nicholas Chan, a CRMS 8th grader.

Zero Robotics teams ultimately compete in a programming competition against each other where the robots are SPHERES or Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites inside the International Space Station.

In the final part of the competition, Astro Stryke went to Houston to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration center. There an astronaut used their code in a competition on the International Space Station and broadcasted the competition live, Lam-Parker said.

“Our strategy to gather debris and use gravitational pull to divert the comet performed more consistent than any other teams. Some teams tried to use the laser pack and the results varied greatly due to environment variations in space. Although, our team also programmed the laser pack with a high score of 27 points, we predicted this program may not perform consistently. Therefore, the team submitted the more robust program for the competition,” said Lam-Parker. “This is engineering lesson at its best! We are very proud of our result as this is our first year.”

Chan said his favorite part at the NASA competition was meeting astronaut Mike Fossum and learning about his missions and how he became an astronaut.

Province also enjoyed working with the NASA astronauts.

“I enjoyed seeing the astronauts are really smart but have a sense of humor too! They worked hard in school and now can enjoy being at the top of their game,” he said.

M.I.T. is supported in the Zero Robotics program by NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space. Texas A&M University sponsored the local group and the team was mentored by both M.I.T and A&M students.

“(My favorite part was) talking with and meeting the astronauts and the Texas A&M engineering students who helped us this summer when we got stuck on a programming strategy,” Beasley said.

“Zero Robotics gave us exposure to great universities like M.I.T and Texas A&M. We met students and professors in the Aerospace Engineering program. We programmed an important mission for space but in a video game like environment. We learned a lot and had fun too,” said J.J. Parker, FPMS 7th grader.

Other successful, local school programs including ViperBot FTC, Faltech FTC, FIRST FLL, DI and Gateway, helped pave the way for the Zero Robotics invitation.

“Our students always compete at a very high level in every program and we are building an excellent reputation for Vandegrift,” said VHS freshman Mack Parker.

Already the group is looking ahead to next year and hopes the local team wins.

“I also am hopeful that the  Zero Robotics program expands to the Vandergrift in the near future,” said Beasley.

“Our group has potential to bring LISD to the forefront of STEM advancements over the next decade,” Province said.

 

Zero Robotics summer roster:

(5 from CRMS and 5 from FPMS)

Nathan Beasley – 9th VHS (formerly FPMS)

Mack Parker – 9th VHS (formerly FPMS)

Rice Province – 9th VHS (formerly FPMS)

Logan Everitt – 9th VHS (formerly CRMS)

Nick Rosas – 9th VHS (formerly CRMS)

Nicholas Chan – 8th CRMS

Will Pasquarette – 8th CRMS

Stefano Bonilla  – 8th CRMS

JJ Parker – 7th FPMS