December 15, 2023 - The robotics team from Hill Country College Preparatory High School placed fourth in the UIL State Championship – BEST Robotics division for small group on December 2 in Dallas.
The team, called D.A.Ds Robotics for “Dedicated Academic Developers,” consists of 41 students and two coaches and competed in the UIL small division at state. They were well prepared for the competition that tests their problem solving, team building and engineering skills.
“We are proud of how well our students express themselves and work together towards a common goal,” says Louis Cavallaro, one of the coaches and an engineering teacher at HCCPHS. “This is called a robotics competition, but in reality, it is an engineering competition when you consider all of the documentation and presentation components that are involved.”
This is the third year in a row that a robotics team from HCCPHS has advanced to the state championship, which speaks to the school’s emphasis on STEAM, says Cavallaro, and the campus has been in existence for only four years. A quarter of the school’s student body is involved in robotics.
Three additional Comal ISD teams competed in the state competition including Canyon Lake High School which received the ‘most robust robot’ award; Smithson Valley Middle School which received the t-shirt design and creative robot awards; and Spring Branch Middle School.
Each team designs, builds and programs a robot that competes head-to-head with other teams from across the state. Robot drivers work with a spotter in a series of three-minute rounds hoping to outscore the competition.
Leading up to the competition, teams complete an engineering notebook that chronicles the design process. All design and strategic decisions are documented as well as progress along the way. The culmination of the team’s work is presented in a marketing campaign with an exhibit promoting the team’s robot which a small group pitches to judges.
This year’s BEST Robotics theme is “Incision Decision,” which challenges teams to build robots that can perform surgeries on SimBody, a training platform for minimally invasive surgery. Teams chose what surgery they would like to perform from a brain biopsy and cardiac valve repair to a coronary artery bypass, cardiac ablation or arterial plaque removal. Only the most capable robots which demonstrated skills were selected to advance in the competition.
This theme showcases the advancement of robotics in healthcare. Robotics are used to assist surgeons in performing complex surgeries with minimal invasiveness to the patient. According to BEST, the global healthcare service robots market is projected to reach $8.02 billion by 2032. This year’s challenge is helping students explore this innovative field and pave the way for the future of healthcare.
Members of the HCCPHS Robotics Team
Coaches Louis Cavallaro and Richard Muenich
- Moises Alvarado
- Emily Barnard
- Eric Barnard
- Owen Barr
- Jacob Bautista
- Bella Beacham
- Alex Brown
- Steven Brown
- Henry Ferris
- Kaylie Fitzgibbons
- Ty Fonseca
- Isaac Fosler
- Wesley Frazier
- Kendyl Gallagher
- Oliver Goodman
- Violet Gould
- K Greenhill
- Zoey Hebert
- Maddie Hosek
- Jakson Kimball
- Skyler King
- Colin Leos
- Michelle Linares-Moreno
- Edith Lujan
- Max Mayfield
- Dyllon McCormick
- Annabelle McKee
- Will Olajos
- Kehinde Olufemi
- Olu Olufemi
- Taiye Olufemi
- Madz Patten
- Auri Payton
- Brianna Schmeis
- Adan Sepeda
- Keshav Singh
- Kat Topping
- Trinity Vendetti
- Bella Villareal
- Natalee Willey
- Sasha Williams
Congratulations!
-The robotics team from Hill Country College Preparatory High School placed fourth in the UIL State Championship – BEST Robotics division, small group on December 2.
-The Hill Country College Preparatory High School robotics team during the state championship. Photo credit: Bella Beacham.
Read more Comal ISD news here.