By Stephanie Moore

Charlie Leon, Keith Loebner and Daniel Pare, seventh-graders at Egan Intermediate School, won second place overall in the seventh-eighth grade age group in Tech Challenge 2002, at the Civic Auditorium in San Jose, April 10. Over 120 teams participated.

Students were instructed to imagine a day in the not-too-distant future when the Olympics come to Silicon Valley. They were then asked to imagine the final runner carrying the torch and placing it high on a pedestal. In this imaginary tale, a robot emerges from the sidelines and, to the sound of cheering from thousands of spectators, lifts the torch. The robot carries the torch for the final few yards and sets it down to light the flame, which will burn throughout the games.

The students were asked to invent a robot to carry the “Tech Torch,” a nonflammable version for the future. The Egan team designed, built and operated their robot, named “Zeus,” which successfully met all the criteria of the challenge. Zeus’ torch was moved from one pedestal to another, 11 feet away, using a cranelike robot with three axes of motion.

The Egan team used three separate circuits to control Zeus’ three drive arms. They designed the circuits with help from their coach, Bob Lee. Lee and assistant coach Bob Isaacs are members of Retirees Enhancing Science Education through Experiments.

The team assembled the circuits, built the structure, performed numerous tests and reworked Zeus as problems arose. An electromagnet was used to capture the torch from the first pedestal and release it onto the second pedestal. The Egan team performed this feat in 1 minute and 15 seconds.

The criteria for the “Overall Award” were: completing the challenge, overall time, design creativity, design methodology, degree of automation, teamwork and team spirit.

Margie Gray, an Egan science teacher, was the faculty sponsor for the Egan team. She provided the team with guidance in their approach to meeting the challenge.