A group of students from the Zanneio Model Experimental High School of Piraeus distinguished themselves in the international competition "Zero Robotics 2014" by taking second place, in alliance with two American student teams.
The competition involved secondary school students from across Europe, who were invited to take control of tiny satellites on the International Space Station, with the aim of taking the best images of a virtual asteroid.
The finalists participating in this robotics game, among which was the Greek team, had to write algorithms that controlled the robots (in Greek "Spheres").
The Orbs are volleyball-sized satellites that hover on the Station using 12 nozzles, which are powered by compressed gas. These autonomous robots have their own power and propulsion, but must be programmed in advance for how they will move.
For the fifth year (with participation in the competition increasing each year), over 140 Europeans joined competitors from the US, Mexico and Russia, writing software code for the best possible depiction of the asteroid, while maneuvering to avoid a dangerous virtual solar flare.
The European and Russian finalists met at the European Space Agency's (ESA) Technical Center in the Netherlands (ESTEC), while the US and Mexican teams were connected via video conference from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
From the Station, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore and Russian cosmonaut Yelena Serova supervised the robotic “battle.” ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli and his NASA colleague Candy Coleman were also present, at ESTEC and MIT respectively, cheering on the competing teams.
The first prize was won by the alliance "LakeElevenVadars" which included "Cora's Eleven" from Italy. The second place was taken by the team from Greece "Zanneio Stardust" which participated for the first time. In collaboration with student teams from two schools in the USA (Bacon from Charlottesville High School in Virginia and BRRobotics from Lawrenceville School in New Jersey), they lost in the final by a very small margin.
"Zanneio Stardust" is the team of the SIMA Club of Excellence of the Zanneio Model Experimental High School of Piraeus, with the responsible teachers being the mathematicians Pantelis Bouboulis and Sotiris Tsantilas. It consists of the students Alifragki Irini, Giannoutsos Andreas, Zacharopoulos Christos, Kalaitzian Phaedra, Kalkantzakos Konstantinos, Kanderakis Panagiota, Karambila Katerina, Melissourgakis Nikos, Myroforidis Petros-Ioannis, Nakas Georgios, Sklavounos Dimitris, Skouloudaki Anna, Spyrou Alexandros, Stevis Babis, Topalidis Iasonas, Tsivakis Giorgos-Alexandros, Tsimerekis Konstantinos and Tsoumas Fotis.
Source: imerisia.gr
