Published On: April 3rd, 2016By Leticia Fehling

Victory Early College High School Wins 2nd in USTEM Space Center Houston’s Robotics Challenge

The STEM event has teams of students explore next generation robotics on Mars missions.

Victory-Early-College-High-School-USTEM-Robotics-Challenge-11

The Victory Early College HS team poses during the competition.

[dropcap color=”#888″ type=”square”]T[/dropcap]he team from Victory Early College High School did it again. The group won second place at the USTEM® Space Center Houston Robotics Competition.

The early college has a strong robotics program. This is the [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]second year a team from Victory ECHS competes in the event. Last year, the team won third place.

In the competition, teams explore next generation robotics on Mars. They undertake missions that are essential for survival on the Red Planet. Teams develop their crew and develop a communication station. They also launch satellites into orbit and secure power supplies. Students get to be heroes as they save a robot that needs help.

The mission of the competition is to improve STEM education. Organizers also seek to increase students’ interest in STEM fields. The acronym stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]USTEM® – SCRC Innovation and Inventions Contest Mars Challenge has teams create and develop a unique robotic invention or innovation. The project has to solve a problem or improve an existing mechanism or product. Each team must use the robotic invention or innovation during a Mars exploration and settlement project. They can also choose a project from the LEGO education curriculum.

The student teams approach their problem as a real team of engineers. They work together to solve a problem using the Engineering Design Process (EDP). This is a particular course of action. The intent of the sequence of operations is to achieve a result or produce an outcome.

Engineering Design Process

[ul class=”list list-search”] [li]Research[/li] [li]Plan [/li][/ul]

[ul class=”list list-search”] [li]Prototype[/li] [li]Document & Test [/li][/ul]

[ul class=”list list-search”] [li]Commercialize[/li][/ul]

At this year’s event, each team had to keep an engineering notebook for every time it met. The notebook had to describe each step of the EDP that each team took in the creation of the mechanism or product. This documentation formed part of the judging criteria. Students also used a scoring rubric as a guide to plan their project and presentation. Every team had to follow the rules of the competition.

The coaches could teach team members new skills and handle logistics for the team. They could also ask questions to get the team members thinking and to remind students of the rules. But each team’s robot and project had to be the work of the students. Team members had to make all the decisions and do all the work.

Sophomore, junior and senior students comprised the 2016 team from Victory. Many will use what they learned from this year’s event to give the team a competitive edge next in 2017.

Victory ECHS Robotics Team

Keaton Boudreaux
Edgar Nino
Mark Rodríguez
Roany Rodríguez
Mario Rosales
Esmeralda Trejo (junior at campus)

Lyn del Monte-Onato is proud of the team. She serves as a physics teacher at the campus and coaches the robotics team.

“The students worked hard and it paid off,” said del Monte-Onato. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.

“I encourage students to join the robotics program at the campus. This is a great way to expose students to STEM careers.“

The Space Center Houston Robotics Challenge is a middle and high school robotics competition. Organizers use the LEGO brand Mindstorms robotic platform. Urban STEM and Space Center Houston presented the competition.