Gazette
masthead
   About The Gazette Search Back Issues Contact Us    
The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University May 3, 2004 | Vol. 33 No. 33
 
APL Hosts 'Robots of the Ring' Program for Maryland Middle Schoolers

Nearly 400 students from 22 middle schools across Maryland will compete in the fourth annual TEAMS science and technology competition on Thursday, May 6, at APL. TEAMS — which stands for Technology Education Alliance with Middle Schools — will bring participants from Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George's counties to the annual educational initiative to promote math, science, technology and engineering.

Through robotic games, the program is designed to show middle schoolers how teaming enables them to solve technology problems that could not be solved individually, and relate this concept to the design and construction of spacecraft.

This year's competition, "Robots of the Ring," is based on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Each team will design, build and operate three robots and task them with a series of complex maneuvers on a pingpong table. One robot will have to knock down a block wall and push balls onto the opponent's side of the table while simultaneously protecting its playing field. A second will push as many as 10 rings up a ramp and into the mouth of a "volcano." A third will push a plastic frog across a shaky bridge onto the opponent's side of the table and guard against its return.

GO TO MAY 3, 2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE FRONT PAGE.


The Gazette | The Johns Hopkins University | Suite 540 | 901 S. Bond St. | Baltimore, MD 21231 | 443-287-9900 | gazette@jhu.edu