Perry MS Robotics Club Named 2022 Texas Botball Champions

The DeWitt Perry Middle School Robotics Club was named the 2022 Texas Botball Champions at the Annual Texas Botball Competition in Houston on April 30, 2022. 

Botball is a completely autonomous robotics competition for middle school through high school students. Autonomous robots can perform tasks independently without human control. Students were given an advanced kit of parts and tasked with building up to two autonomous robots to compete in a challenging competition on a 64-square-foot table. Students built the robots and programmed them in real computer programming languages. 

“Once the robots start, there is absolutely no remote control; they are on their own, operating only from the code the students have written,” said David Culp, DeWitt Perry Middle School science teacher and robotics sponsor. “Perry sent more students to the competition than any other school. These students have worked tirelessly the last four months since January 4, seven days a week, including seven to eight hours every single Saturday and Sunday. Our middle school students competed directly against high school students.”    

As part of the competition, the students had to document their process in both written and video form and submit that documentation three times during the process. They also had to present a live presentation in front of a panel of judges. The documentation and presentation were both graded by the judges. 

The competition was divided into three sections:

• The Seeding Rounds - Students were the only ones on the board and their robots had two minutes to score as many points as possible. Students were given three runs with the highest two runs being averaged together.
• Double Elimination - The students’ seed score sent them into head-to-head competition with two teams on the table for two minutes. The high score won.
• Scores from Judges - The students’ documentation and presentation scores.

In addition to being named Botball Champions, the team also won the following awards:

• 1^st place seeding rounds
• 1^st place double elimination
• Two Perry teams tied for 1^st place in documentation with perfect scores
• 3^rd place seeding
• 3^rd place double elimination
• Judges choice award for best written code
• Judges choice award for mechanical engineering

“The club could not operate without the support of our principal, Mrs. Vicky Cisneros, who, despite all the obstacles, found us a home this year,” Culp said. “In addition, the club has to thank our wonderful and incredible Advanced Academic Services Department and their executive director, Stacy Carroll. Without their support, we would not be able to operate the way we do and serve as many incredible kids that we do. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”