NEWS

Robot from Rose Park heads into competition

Alex Beecher
The Tennessean;

Aakash Sivakumar was excitedly trying to explain his idea for an add-on to Taurus, the remote-controlled robot.

"Wait, let me draw you a diagram," the animated 11-year-old urged his fellow "Techno Titans," as the Rose Park Magnet School robotics team is known.

As Sivakumar scrambled for paper, Lucas Yarnes, 12, busied himself tightening a screw into the robot's blade, while Ibrahim Ibrahim, 12, pondered the idea of installing compressed neutron star dust into the "bot" to maximize its power.

The team's energy was running high in anticipation for its trip to Anaheim, Calif., for the VEX Robotics World Championship today. The six sixth-grade students have been hard at work building their robot since early February.

"The kids are awesome," said Robert Clifton, a science teacher and the team mentor. "They've blown me away with how well they've done in such a short period of time."

While the Rose Park students have been preparing for only a few months, many of their competitors have had an entire year to build and perfect their robots, Clifton said. Despite the shorter time frame, the Techno Titans won an excellence award at the state championship in March, qualifying them to compete in California.

The Techno Titans, all either 11 or 12 years old, are aspiring engineers, builders, doctors and programmers.

"We have really good self-esteem," Ibrahim said. "You can't knock us down."

Rose Park did not have many resources to devote to its first robotics team, so the project has been funded largely by the students' parents and by the community, including Rose Park's faculty and staff as well as Belmont and Vanderbilt universities.

"Nashville loves their students, and they take care of them," Clifton said.

The kids begrudgingly agreed to keep up with their homework during their trip to California, and insisted that they are confident Taurus will hold his own in the competition.

Alex Beecher is with Seigenthaler News Service- MTSU. Reach her at doniomaria992@gmail.com.