Photo courtesy of Phoenix Day School for the Deaf
Phoenix Day School for the Deaf (PDSD) middle school students Owen, Espi, and Samuel recently competed and won at the VEX IQ Robotics Competition.
The VEX IQ Robotics Competition is an open-ended robotics challenge for elementary and middle schoolers testing students on their ability to build, maneuver, and code robots.
Despite being the only deaf team competing against 18 other hearing schools, the three students worked together, used problem solving skills and came out victorious during the competition.
While communicating through interpreters posed a unique challenge to the students, they were able to work through the hurdles and not only communicate well with one another but create alliances with hearing schools in order to succeed.
“I’m so proud to see our robotics team shine in competition as the only deaf team,” says Scott Madsen, career and technical education director of Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. “Our students broke barriers and proved that determination, innovation and teamwork knows no limits!”
Their team, named the Roborunners, scored the highest total points of the tournament and earned the Teamwork Champions Award.
In the competition’s Skills Challenge, which includes driving and programming robots, the Roborunners placed sixth overall with a combined 70 points.
Their trophy-winning robot was programmed to pick up balls, carry them over to a goal, and successfully toss the balls into the goal scoring them a point each time they made a shot.
The robot was programed and driven by the students. However, they also successfully coded the robot to act autonomously and complete its tasks without human interference. They were only one of eight teams to score programming points, demonstrating their top-notch coding skills.
The robotics team is part of PDSD’s commitment to Career and Technical Education (CTE). Courses like these and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classes support students in preparing for a successful future.
PDSD also has an award-winning high school robotics team. All students work together and create friendly competition to encourage one another to be the best robotics teams they can possibly be.
Both the middle school robotics team and high school robotics team is looking forward to participating in more competitions against both hearing schools and other deaf schools in 2025.
For more information on the Phoenix Day School for the Deaf visit asdb.az.gov/pdsd.
