Photo:From left to right, Prospect Hill Academy students and Zero Robotics competition finalists Joseph, Daniel, Yousef, Ellen, and John.

 

Cambridge, January 25, 2017 – A group of skilled and hardworking Prospect Hill Academy students battled and advanced through three rounds of competition to be invited to compete in the MIT Zero Robotics worldwide finals, programming actual robotic satellites that are on the International Space Station (ISS). This Friday, January 27th, students will watch via live transmission from space as the competition is judged by astronauts aboard the ISS.

 

It is a huge accomplishment to have made it thus far. The competition began with 156 teams from around the world; Prospect Hill Academy is one of 48 internationally and 23 from the USA who made it to the final round.

 

Prospect Hill Academy’s team of five students competed in three rounds to get to the finals, completing progressively more difficult tasks as the competition advanced. Students had to apply complex math and physics concepts, considering how the robots would perform under zero gravity conditions on the ISS.

 

After the second round, Prospect Hill Academy joined a Three-Team Alliance with teams from Romania and New Jersey and worked collaboratively to produce one program for the semi-final and final rounds. Remarked senior and student team leader Ellen Wang: “It was great to collaborate with students from another state and another country; something we wouldn’t do outside this competition.”

 

For more information about Prospect Hill Academy, visit http://www.phacs.org. Learn more about Zero Robotics and the tournament here: http://zerorobotics.mit.edu/.