Cayman Prep sends two teams to robotics competition
Cyber Rays team member Matthew Bodden and coach Allison smith receive sponsorship check from Cayman National Bank
(CNS Local Life): Cayman Prep High School’s robotics team will be traveling to Tampa, Florida, later this month to compete in the annual ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology’ (FIRST) Lego league. The theme this year is water, according to a release from the school. The competition has three main parts to it: the project, robot game and the core values. In the first part, the team must come up with a problem relating to the theme and then devise a solution.
In the robot game stage, the students must programme the robots to do missions related to the year’s theme. Finally, the students must learn the eight core values, such as working as a team, having fun and sharing experiences with each other.
Cayman Prep, which has participated in FIRST for many years, will be taking two teams. The Cyber Rays comprises first time competitors Paxton McCoy, Hugo Barnett, Alexander Bodden, Walker Riley, Matthew Bodden and James Allison, whose ages range from 11 to 14, accompanied by coach Michael Harrington.
The Techno Turtles’ members are Thomas Penner, Nat Grieff, Adrian Phillips-Hernáez, Xaria Deosaran, Paige Allison and Noah Hill, who have all competed in FIRST before and are between 12 and 14. They will be accompanied by coach Mark Leary. Allison Smith is assistant coach to both teams.
The problem that the Cyber Rays have given themselves for the competition is household water wastage. Their solution is to line a pipe from the drain into the bottom of the house, where there will be a tank to filter and hold the water until needed. So, instead of using fresh water for jobs like watering plants and bathing dogs, people can use this water, which will be somewhat clean through the filtering.
The Techno Turtles’ problem is water wastage through car washing, and their solution is to build a solar-hydro-clean car wash in the Cayman Islands. The solar-powered steam washer would be similar to a pressure washer but using heated high-pressured water vapors. Since such a device would consume a lot of energy, the team decided to use solar power to operate it. In addition to harnessing renewable energy, this method of car washing would use less water and no soap, and result in faster service and cleaner cars, thereby keeping the cost of the service about the same as a traditional car wash while being much more environmentally friendly.
In a release about the competition, the teams expressed their gratitude to their 2018 sponsors: Cayman Prep PTA, Deloitte, Cayman National Bank, Cayman Enterprise City, Cayman Airways and Rawlinson & Hunter.
Category: Education
