Jesuit Robotics Team Wins First Place at International Competition

HOUSTON – The Robotics Team won the overall team championship at the 2011 Marine Advanced Technology Education International ROV competition at the NASA Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston this past weekend.

Jesuit placed first out of 26 teams in the Explorer class, the highest team designation at the three-day engineering event.

The MATE Center ran the international student underwater remotely operated vehicle robotics competition that started out with more than 450 student teams taking part from middle schools, high schools, community colleges, universities and community organizations representing 24 states and eight countries.

Jill Zande, competition coordinator for the MATE Center, complemented the Jesuit Robotics program.

“These young men have earned a reputation for excellence over the years, and it’s obvious that the veterans on this team meshed with the newcomers and really came together at this competition,” Zande said. “All weekend long, the Jesuit team looked really composed and professional and acted in a respectful manner toward their fellow competitors. They’re amazing.”

For their efforts, Jesuit Robotics received the championship trophy, robotics and ROV related books, ROV components, VISA gift cards donated by various individuals and corporations and a travel credit to have team members attend the Underwater Intervention Conference in New Orleans in January, where their ROV will be on display as they man a booth for MATE.

The competition consisted of two different classes, Explorer and Ranger, which vary depending on the sophistication of the ROVs and the mission requirements. Jesuit has competed in the advanced Explorer Class for the past six years and was one of only two high schools represented among 24 college teams this year.

This year’s theme had a corporate feel, highlighting the role that ROVs play in the offshore oil and gas industry and focused on the challenges that they faced during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The mission tasks included removing a damaged riser pipe, capping a wellhead, collecting a water sample, measuring depth, and sampling organisms.

The Jesuit Robotics team created their own corporation, Jesuit AquaCorp, for this year’s MATE competition and named their ROV “Phorcys” after a god found in Greek mythology who ruled over the dangers of the deep. The team had to design and manufacture its own oil well cap head, as well as a vehicle to deliver it and the computer programming code to control the movement of the ROV down to a depth of 40 feet.

Jesuit’s team recorded the two fastest mission times of the entire MATE competition and their first team received the high score of 307.1 out of 300 possible points. This earned the Mission Award for the Jesuit Robotics team, in addition to a second place finish in the Poster category and first place overall.

“It was a pleasure coaching these young men through this project” said head coach Rolf Konstad. “They demonstrated great teamwork, a passion for the technical challenges, and effectively applied their strong academic capabilities and the discipline instilled by their Jesuit education to accomplish a feat that is hard to imagine for a high school team.”

In addition to technical skills, the events help students to develop the ability to problem solve, think critically and work as part of a team. By connecting students with employers and professionals from the workplace, the competitions also expose students to ocean-related career opportunities and help them to see the pathways to those careers.

The Jesuit High School Robotics team was represented by: Brian Grau ’11, Chief Executive Officer; Phillip Coyle ’11, Chief Project Engineer; , CAD; Jared Wilson ’11, Mission Operations Manager; Matthew Yang ’11, Marketing and Safety Officer; Evan Arnold ’12, Pilot, Systems Manufacturing; Joe Griffin ’12, CFO, Team Communications; Chris Lloyd ’12, Web Design; Alan Luu ’12, Manufacturing; Greg Marchese ’12, Programming; Spencer Breining-Aday ’13, Pilot, Manufacturing; Chris Konstad ’13, Electronics; Drake Nylund ’13, CAD; Louis Styer ’13, Web Design; Jesse Tambornini ’13, CAD; Nick Sopwith ’14, Research and Development; Andrew Standriff ’14, Electronics.  Coaches: Rolf Konstad, Jay Isaacs, Dr. Daniel Styler, Peter Brown, and Mark Standriff.

-Submitted by Jordan Blair, director of communications, Jesuit High School