From robotics to bridge building to designing a safer automobile, Westport’s Staples High School Engineering Team took first place in a recent competition of 25 high schools in Rochester, N.Y., according to school officials.
Staples grabbed the top trophy for being the only school to compete and place in three events.
Held at Monroe Community College on April 28, the event matched the engineering wits of 15 Staples team members against several hundred contestants.
For the robotics competition, known as the SumoBot, the Westport team had to design a less than foot-high robot weighing no more than two kilograms but powerful enough to knock another robot off a seven-foot diameter table.
Adding to the challenge, school officials said, the robot had to use only basic Radio Shack motors and less than 4 amps of current. The team�s SumoBot made it through four matches before being eliminated.
The Staples team also had to design and build a 60 cm, 25 g balsa wood bridge to support a maximum kilogram load at mid-span. The Staples team constructed two bridges, taking second and third place for supporting 11.9 and 11.8 kg respectively.
For the final auto safety competition the students had to design a car that would keep two eggs intact when propelled down a 60-inch ramp into a cement block.
The Staples automobile featured a hard wire frame covered in fabric to resemble a stationwagon outfitted with a compressible bumper system. The eggs survived the impact, and though the team placed third in this competition, it won first place overall for placing in three separate competitions.
“Needless to say, the bus ride home for the team members and chaperones, Dr. Harry Rosvally, Mrs. Laura Schwartz and Mr. Martin Fox, was a happy one,” said Joyce Losen, spokeswoman for the Westport public schools.
Joanne Klouda is faculty adviser for the 20-member Staples engineering team.
This year�s team members include: team captain Marshall Fox, Alicia Kaestli, Andrew Shenoy, Antonella Lisanti, Daniel Amitay, Everett Tremblay, Gennadiy Gurevich, Geoffrey Jordan, James Kim, Maurizio Martinovic, Nathanial Fox, Scott Infusino, Annette Haugsdal, Nina Lintermans, Sam Andrew, Andrew Tschirhart, Jon Sellon, Andrew Tremblay, Chris Fox and Stanley Park.
