Feb 3 2011
John Avitia and Chris Villarreal from Ingleside High School bagged the first prize under the robotics category in the Coastal Bend Boost Engineering, Science and Technology contest. The competition was held at the Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
The contest focuses on encouraging the South Texas based students to develop their skills in science, technology, engineering and math. It also motivates them to take up jobs in the science field.
The competition was participated by 24 teams. Moody High School received the third prize under the robotics tournament category and the Corpus Christi School of Science and Technology bagged the third prize under the category of boost engineering, science and technology division.
The participating teams were given a robot kit and they were supposed to develop a radio-driven robot measuring 2-by-2-feet. The robot must perform desired tasks like screening electrical signals, perceiving magnetics and grabbing and moving objects.
Winners are selected, based on their technical expertise, design of their T-shirt, presentation style, team spirit and fair conduct. Ingleside students dedicated several hours for developing a faultless robot.
Dr. Bryan Russell, Science Teacher of Ingleside School and Robotics Trainer, has mentioned that there were instances when they worked continuously for eight hours and threw the robot in the dustbin and then again started building it up.
The team will participate in the regional contest, scheduled to be held at the University of North Texas.