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National Robotics Champions Featured at Chamber Annual Meeting
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National Robotics Champions Featured at Chamber Annual Meeting
Chamber and business community pay tribute to local and future talent by recognizing High School team “WildStang” at event featuring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
On June 18, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce hosted its 105th Annual Meeting of Membership featuring speakers Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, Jim Tyree, Chairman of the Board, and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.
This successful event included over 1,500 business people who gathered at the Hilton International Ballroom to participate in this year’s theme of “reinventing your business through innovation and entrepreneurship”. The event featured networking tables, Microsoft games and programs, and presentations by speakers and the Chicago 2016 advertising team.
Notably, participants honored the students of the Rolling Meadows, Wheeling, and Prospect High Schools’ WildStang Robotics Team, which just won the national robotics competition known as FIRST in Atlanta, Georgia.
The WildStang Robotics Team, comprised of students from Rolling Meadows, Wheeling, and Prospect High Schools, teachers, and mentors from Motorola competed in the Midwest Regional sponsored by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) at the UIC Pavilion on February 26-28.
Fifty students from the team participated in this years’ game entitled “Lunacy”. The game involves a three-on-three competition of robots picking up balls, called “moon rocks” and depositing the moon rocks in trailers pulled by the opponents’ robot. Each scored moon rock is worth points with the greatest number scored winning each match. The robots drive on a slippery plastic surface designed to mimic the gravity of the moon, which is 1/6 of the earth’s gravity. Fifty-three teams from places as far away as Canada participated in the competition.
In addition to winning the competition, the team won the Autodesk Visualization Award for best computer animation, the Motorola Quality Award for outstanding robot construction, and the “Woodie Flowers Award” for best mentor was awarded to Raul Olivera, Motorola engineer and the lead mechanical engineer/mentor on the team.
Follow these links to view videos of the WildStang team in action.