Congratulations to our High School Robotics Team and their robot "Whiplash" for placing first out of 23 teams in the 2006 Jubilee B.E.S.T. Robotics Competition held on Saturday, November 11, 2006 in Mobile, Alabama. The team received a standing ovation in the packed Davidson High School gymnasium. "It was a lot of work and traveling but it was all fun and worth it!" said the team captain Steven Sengberg.
The event is sponsored by B.E.S.T. Inc., a non-profit, volunteer-based organization whose mission is to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science, and technology through participation in a sports-like science and engineering based robotics competition.
Each team designs and builds a radio-controlled machine to accomplish defined tasks in a game-type format. Six weeks before the competition, the teams gather for Kick Off Day in early September at local hub sites where they receive identical kits of equipment (motors, r/c unit, batteries, etc.), raw materials from which to build their machines, and a detailed set of game rules. The machines they build cannot weigh more than 24 pounds, must fit within a 24-inch cube, and must be built only from the raw materials supplied to them by the local hub. Each year there is a different mission. The 2005 mission was to service Hubble' Space Telescope. This year, the challenge was more down to earth. The theme was domestic automation: the robot had to be able to transport, hang, and retrieve laundry.
The Florida Robotics Hub was unable to host the local competition this year as they did in past years, so the Boca Christian team had to look out of state to put Whiplash to the test.
Boca Christian Robotics teacher Paul Ludlow was thrilled to able to participate in the Jubilee Hub competition in Mobile, Alabama, and to bring home the first place trophy. Since Boca Christian is not an official member of the Jubilee Hub, they gave their position to advance to the regional level of competition to a school in Alabama.
Congratulations, Robotics Team, for seizing the moment!
Robotics Commemorative Video
