Dublin High Engineering Academy Students Win Robotics Contest

Dublin High School’s Engineering Academy, which was recently awarded a California Partnership Academies grant and is set to expand for the 2011-12 school year, recently won first place at Gunn High School in a Project Lead the Way robotics regional contest. Three Dublin High freshmen, graduates of both Fallon and Wells Middle Schools, teamed up to design and build a robot for the challenge. All three are currently enrolled in Dublin High’s Principles of Engineering course. The competition required the students to design and build a programmable robot to complete a defined challenge in the shortest amount of time possible (Dublin High’s robot successfully completed the task 2 minutes faster than the nearest competitor). A month of hard work paid off for the students – each was awarded a $300 Amazon.com gift card for the win.

Dublin High’s winning robot was also showcased at a recent Xilinx Inc. (a leading company in the semiconductor industry) conference, where the Dublin High students presented their robot to attendees from around the world. The Dublin High students had the unique opportunity to have their design decisions challenged by experienced engineers. Dublin High’s entry at the Xilinx conference was voted the favorite project by attending engineers, winning $1,000 towards Dublin High’s Engineering Academy.

Dublin High’s Engineering Academy is being built around Project Lead the Way’s curriculum. Project Lead the Way’s Gateway to Technology curriculum is also being rolled out at the middle school level.

Dublin High School Engineering Academy Robotics Project

Dublin High School Teacher Eugene Chou with Engineering Academy Students