On November 15, nine students from the Project Lead the Way Digital Electronics course taught at American Senior High School competed in the 3rd annual DeVry University Sumo Robotics International Competition.
Teams from Chicago, New York, Brazil, Tampa, Orlando, and Miramar convened to pit their design and programming skills against one another in a venue centered on the ancient Japanese art of Sumo wrestling with a modern twist in robotics.
During the round robin matches, two robots are placed on parallel lines facing the judges, and are programmed to push the opposing robot off the circular platform within three minutes. The team from American High School, mentored by Engineering Academy lead teacher Manuel Cox, is the only high school team in a college level arena.
This is the second year that American High School has fielded a team with two original robots autonomously programmed to drive their opponents out of the circle. This year's team included seniors Shane Adelakun, Jann Dominguez, Daniel Garcia, Adrian Garcia, Thang Khual, Kimberly Overton, Diego Suarez, Jesse Villarkelly and junior Anabherta Hernandez. They look forward to additional robotics competitions throughout the school year, and preparing next year's team to compete.