Little yellow robots buzzed around the Nedderman Hall atrium at the University of Texas at
Arlington on Saturday, February 9th, 2008. The robots were programmed and built by high
school students to compete in the High School Robot Programming Contest, RoPro, sponsored
by the Computer Science and Engineering Department at UTA (CSE@UTA). Twenty-two teams from
nine area high schools competed in this annual outreach and recruiting event. New teams
competed in the speed-based beginning maze competition where the robot does not know the
course beforehand. More experienced teams competed in the advanced maze competition where
“virtual” walls, made of colored tape on the floor, had to be treated just like the wooden
walls and in the object finding competition where robots must locate, identify and the move
colored golf balls within the maze.
The twenty-two participating teams came from high schools including Arlington, Sam Houston,
and James Bowie from Arlington ISD, the Science and Engineering Magnet and the Talented and
Gifted Magnet from Dallas ISD, DeSoto High School from DeSoto ISD, Granbury High School from
Granbury ISD, a Texas charter school, and area home schools. Every Lego robot was programmed
by the students to work autonomously in its event. Once started, the robot was under its own
control following the instructions programmed into it. No remote controls here!
"I am honored to have received this recognition," said Dr. Ahmad. "It is not only personally
satisfying, but it also helps the ranking of the university, the college and the department."
RoPro has become a tradition for many of the teachers who coach these teams. The RoPro
competition gives these great teachers an opportunity to practice concepts learned in class
and then apply them in the competition. The results are both fun and instructive. The 2008
RoPro competition will also be able to help some of these students in the future. As the result
of a grant, any student team member who competed this year and is accepted to UTA in the CSE
department will receive a $1000 scholarship. If their team won an award this year then they
will receive a $2000 scholarship to CSE@UTA. Some former RoPro participants are currently
CSE students and we look forward to having even more.
For the 2008 CSE @ UTA RoPro Competition, the winning teams were:
| School | Team Name | Competition | Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granbury High School | 01101100-01101101-01100110-01100001-01101111 | Beginning Maze | First Place |
| Sam Houston High School | LaggKing | Beginning Maze | Second Place |
| TECH Homeschool | TECH | Beginning Maze | Third Place |
| TECH Homeschool | TECH | Advanced Maze | First Place |
| Sam Houston High School | New Avengers | Advanced Maze | Second Place |
| Sam Houston High School | Hot Zubbings | Advanced Maze | Third Place |
| Arlington High School | Robhat | Object Finding | First Place |
| Sam Houston High School | Hot Zubbings | Object Finding | Second Place |
| TECH Homeschool | TECH | Object Finding | Third Place |
| Granbury High School | 01101100-01101101-01100110-01100001-01101111 | Engineering Design | Award of Merit |
| James Bowie High School | Transformers | Artistic Design | Award of Merit |