March 2007
Three Year 10 students were selected to join eight other students from all over London to participate in a robotics competition taking place in the USA. Joanna Thom, Fiona Reid and Rebecca Ojumu, together with the other students, spent their Saturdays and February half term holiday building a robot over a period of six weeks at Uxbridge High school. This then culminated in a week-long visit to Annapolis, Maryland, USA on 13th -19th March 2007 with Miss Solani in order to compete in the regional competition. Here is Rebecca Ojumu's report of the trip:
The trip began with a morning flight from Heathrow to Baltimore. When we arrived in Baltimore we were all exhausted because the flight was extremely long. After collecting our suitcases, we then travelled to the hotel on a traditional school bus, similarly to the school bus in the Simpson’s! Our team was not the only British team, there was also two other British team, from Doncaster. We spent the rest of the day eating in the hotel restaurant and getting acquainted with the hotel.
Day two was a sightseeing trip to Washington DC, we arrived to the capital by bus and subway. The day consisted of tours around famous monuments and buildings such as the White House, Abraham Lincoln memorial and “the needle” with Miss Solani and the other teachers as the tour guides. Miss Solani, especially, was a very entertaining tour guide as she performed Indian dancing for a US television show.
The following three days were the most important days of the trip: the competition. The main rule of the game was to make a robot that can attach inflatable hoops onto a rack. With two other teams, the robot was to create rows of these inflatable hoops on the rack and extra points could be scored by putting robots on top of other robots.
The main motto of the competition was “Gracious professionalism”. This meant that even though teams were competing against each other they should still help each other. Throughout the competition, many American teams helped our team by giving us some tools that we needed and helped us rebuild part of the robot.
As part of gracious professionalism, many teams publicised their robot by making badges and T-shirts. Our team was called ‘UK 1’ and we made T-shirts that Miss Solani decorated very elegantly. We also received many badges from other teams.
The first day was a practise day; we travelled to the US Naval academy in Annapolis where the competition was held. We unpacked our box, which contained the robot and other things that were required for the robot. It was also the first day where we got to see our competitors. The American teams were so kind - when we entered the Naval Academy, an American team invited our team to sit with them. There was also a chance in the academy to drive our robots; however, our team had to forfeit our practise games because we had to do some emergency mechanical work on the robot.
After the practise came the real competition - the day first starting with an inspection of the robot. Afterwards there was an official ceremony, where some students from the other British teams sang the National anthem while some American students sang the US national anthem. Then, the games began! Sadly, we lost our first three games and the third game was lost by only one point! That was the point where the team seemed very low and disappointed. Then finally we one our fourth game and everybody in the team was ecstatic. The Third and last day of the competition consisted of two other qualifying games before the knockout stage. Overall, we were ranked 48 out of 58. Even though we did not get through the qualifying stages, we were proud of our team achievements.
The last day of the trip was a shopping trip to the local Annapolis mall. Everyone was eager to go shopping and the mall did not disappoint. Clothes and shoes were slightly cheaper there than in the UK. After the shopping trip, we started packing to back to England; we were all disappointed because we wanted to stay in America a little longer.
Through the lows and the highs, we became more united as a team. This whole trip has allowed me to make new friends, be part of a team and experience American lifestyle. Without the commitment and teamwork, our team would not have achieved as much as we did. Thanks to Miss Solani and Miss Ilahi who have given Joanna, Fiona and Rebecca an opportunity of a lifetime.
By Rebecca Ojumu 10G
