The 16th Annual Calculator Olympics and Robotics Challenge event was held on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 at San Diego City College.

Teams consisting of MESA students at San Diego State University (SDSU), San Diego City College (SDCC), Southwestern Community College (SWC), and participating schools from Imperial Valley and San Diego MESA Schools Programs competed against each other in exams that included Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, and some Engineering material.

Each school was also allowed 1-2 teams who would program a LEGO Mindstorm NXT robotics kit to compete in2 missions.  The first mission required speed and intelligence to maneuver through each checkpoint correctly.  The second mission was a head-to-head competition in that robots raced to collect the most LEGO pieces under a constrained area and time limit.

Special thanks to the events prize sponsors, Sony and the National Science Foundation, and San Diego MESA Alliance Industry Advisory Board volunteers, Carol Gooden of NASLAND Engineering and Brianna Lutes of Infrastructure Engineering Corporation, the MESA Schools Program advisors, and all of the MESA staff.

Robotics Challenge

1st place – SDSU – winners of Sony handycam.

2nd place – Calipatria High School – winners of portable 250GB hard drive.

3rd place – De Anza High School – winners of 7″ digital photo frame.

Calculator Olympics Level 1

1st place – SWC – winners of Sony 8GB Walkman (black).

2nd place – SDSU – winners of Sansa 2GB MP3 players.

3rd place – Southwest High School – winners of Sony 1GB Walkman (blue).

Calculator Olympics Level 2

1st place – SWC – winners of portable 230GB hard drive (black and blue).

2nd place – SDSU – winners of Bamboo PC tablets with pen.

3rd place – SDSU – winners of Plantronics Bluetooth headset with free pairing service.

Calculator Olympics Level 3

1st place – SDSU – winners of Sony portable DVD player.

2nd place – SDCC – winners of Apple iPod 4GB shuffle with voiceover feature.

3rd place – SDSU – winners of 8GB USB flash drive.

Additional photo coverage can be found at the San Diego MESA Alliance Facebook page.