BT’s Robot Challenge Victory: A Year in the Making

Once again, BT’s budding engineers took top place at the annual IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Robot Challenge, the culmination of a year-long program that “ties in the application of engineering with the math and science principles learned until now to implement the project,” explains Mr. Neville Jacobs, robotics teacher. The program includes several field trips throughout the year, which provide students with opportunities to experience what engineers do on a daily basis, as well as teaching important life skills – working as part of a team, being a leader and project management skills.

But it all came down to the wire at the Robot Challenge on Sunday, April 19th at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

“Thirty eight schools and groups participated in the Robot Challenge this year, and our Beth Tfiloh teams did well, despite strong competition from our most serious rivals: Maryvale Prep, Notre Dame Prep, Wilde Lake High School and Charles Herbert Flowers High School,” reports robotics teacher Mr. Neville Jacobs.

The Beth Tfiloh 2-leg robots performed as follows:
• 1st place: Team Pterodactyl, Josh S. ‘15, Anna B. ‘15 and Alex G. ‘15
• 2nd place: Team Freedom, Elan H. ‘15, Seth S. ‘15 and Paul W. ‘15
• 17th place: The Power Puff Girls: Aleah D. ‘15 and Eden O. ‘15

It should be noted that Team Pterodactyl and Team Freedom also demonstrated a new form of autonomous motion control that will be introduced next year for the first time.

The Beth Tfiloh 4-leg robots performed as follows:
• 1st place: The Alpha Beta Wolf Squadron, with Avi G. ‘15, Eli A. ‘15, Steve G. ’15 and Isaac L. ‘15
• 2nd place: The Mystery Team, Shoshana M. ‘15, Cole A. ‘15, Alex T. ‘15 and Aaron B. ‘15
There was only half a point separating these two teams!

“Two of the teams, The Power Puff Girls and The Alpha Beta Wolf Squadron, received special recognition for the creativity of the robot body design,” shares Mr. Jacobs. “We'd like to express our appreciation to Mr. Daniel Goldman of the Arts Department, who provided advice and guidance for the students as they developed their robots' costumes.”