ArchiSci – Robotics: Building on Recent Success, Designing Future Achievements!

It is our great pleasure to announce that Robotics at Archimedean has established itself on a solid platform! In June of 2011, three students from the Upper Conservatory traveled to Tuscaloosa, AL for the annual SECME National Competition.  Our first-year robotics team won the district-wide tournament held at the Regional Science and Engineering Fair at Miami Dade College North Campus earning a spot at the Nationals. The ArchiSci team, Sophomore Lucas Papageorgiou and Freshmen Isaac Barreto and Shiva Kangeyan, competed against teams of veteran robotics competitors from across the country. In the end, Archimedean went undefeated in their rounds and placed 2nd by overall points.

Building on our past success, ArchiSci Robotics is expanding, as promised, to include more students at all levels! Through the Clorox Grant funds, we were able to place an order for a startup platform from VEX Robotics for our Upper and Middle school teams. We have also purchased a kit of Mindstorms parts for the First Lego League, a robotics competition for elementary schools. The Upper Conservatory team has already hit the ground running and is preparing for VEX Robotics Competition in the very near future. The Middle Conservatory and Academy Robotics Clubs will be starting soon. Archimedean will have the only elementary robotics team registered with the First Lego League in all of Dade County!

We hope to continue the expansion of our Robotics Curriculum to include the Junior First Lego League for even younger students and the First Technology Challenge for Middle through High School students. These two competitions are part of the FIRST Robotics Organization (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) which was founded by inventor Dean Kamen to promote STEM education.  We will ultimately expand our program to include the FIRST Robotics Competition in which students design full-scale motorized robots that compete for head to head in an arena. Each of these opportunities requires registration fees as well as capital costs in acquiring the materials needed to compete. These costs can sometimes prevent schools, especially small schools, from offering these valuable experiences to students. However, Archimedean is committed to providing our students with the finest education possible and thanks to the support of the Board, Administration, Faculty, and dedicated Parents we will be offering a complete robotics program within the year!