The Willow Glen Resident

Broadway 'botball' champs rewarded with Florida trip

By Rebecca Wallace

They weren't playing in the NBA, but a limo came to pick up members of the Broadway High School "botball" team just the same. And before they knew it, the two students and one teacher were on their way to watch a botball tournament in Orlando, Fla., courtesy of NASA.

The Florida trip was one of the rewards that Jaime Robles and Alex Briones, two of the four team members, reaped after their team placed second in a botball tournament March 25 at Moffett Field.

Along with students Isaac Fimbrez and Chaz Almeida, Jaime and Alex programmed their robot, "The Mangler," to pick up ping-pong balls and throw them into a 10-inch-high basket. "The Mangler" scored more points than did robots from six other teams, beating out robots from schools including Foothill and Palo Alto high schools.

After the NASA-sponsored tournament, Jaime and Alex, both 16, got some more exciting news--NASA was going to send them to Florida April 1-4 to see an even more high-tech event, the U.S. First Robotics Competition. A NASA limo was to take them to the airport.

"Their robots are made out of metal, not out of Legos like ours," said sophomore Jaime of the First Robotics competitors, chiefly college students. "Ours is like kindergarten stuff compared to what they're doing."

Alex, a junior, and Jaime will be accompanied to Florida by Jason Morrella, supervisor of the botball project, said Devin Blizzard, assistant principal at Broadway.

"I wish I could go," said Frank Correa, the teacher who provided technical support for the project, with a laugh. "They're all really excited."

Mark Leon, manager of NASA's learning technologies project, said he was planning to have NASA sponsor Broadway team members next year so they could enter the U.S. First Robotics Competition.

Out of all the students competing at Moffett Field, the Broadway students were chosen for the Florida trip both because of their drive and because NASA officials wanted to support students from a continuation high school, Leon said.

"What impressed me most was their willingness to play 100 percent," he said. "The best thing was in their first match--the look of shock in their opposing teams, in awe of how quickly the [Broadway] team beat the opponent."

Blizzard's voice rose with excitement as he described the Broadway team's experience at Moffett Field: "The robot had to think for itself once it entered the competition. It was really great to watch the guys yelling at this thing."

He described Leon as "a superman for our high school" who had provided much motivation for the Broadway students and had originally come there with Martial Arts America as a volunteer teacher. "The families said this is inspiring the boys to want to go to college," he said.

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