BSM Students Advance to International Robotics Competition

A team of Benilde-St. Margaret's seniors are headed to an international robotics competition this June in the Netherlands, aimed at building the best robot to assist humans in a disaster setting.

The BSM students, Team RKRS (Red Knight Roborescue Squad), are actually the only high school in the world taking part in the competition. They'll be up against teams from 21 colleges and universities from throughout the world at the RoboCup 2013 Competition in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, from June 24-30.

“All of these students have distinguished themselves in the BSM ACS program,” said Timothy Jump, Advanced Competitive Science (ACS) program director and teacher. “The Red Knight Roborescue Squad (Team RKRS) will be up against university-level students in engineering programs from around the world.”

Team members include the following BSM seniors:

• Nolan Ahlm, son of Joanne Nielsen, St. Louis Park, and Rankin Ahlm Jr., Bloomington
• Matthew Ambre, son of Daniel and Mary Ambre, Plymouth
• Rachel Binish, daughter of Joseph and Teresa Binish, New Hope
• Alexander Black, son of Archie Black and Jane McDonald Black, Golden Valley
• Benjamin Conley, son of Paul and Corrina Conley, Eden Prairie
• Theresa Fan, daughter of Albert Fan and Susan Wollan Fan, Minneapolis
• Sophia Flumerfelt, daughter of Mark Flumerfelt and Stephanie George, St. Louis Park
• Samantha Hoch, daughter of J. Michael and Colleen Hoch, Plymouth
• Stephen Jacobs, son of Jim and Sarah Jacobs, Minneapolis 
• Tyler Jacobsen, son of Donald and Sharon Jacobsen, Mound
• Daniel Letscher, son of Tom and Sheila Letscher, St. Louis Park
• Joseph McMahon, son of Michael and Jody McMahon, Eden Prairie
• Jack Munkeby, son of Eric and Lisa Munkeby, Minnetonka
• Joseph Pauly, son of Roman and Mary Jo Pauly, Eden Prairie
• Eleanor Scott, daughter of Elizabeth Scott, Edina
• Elizabeth Vertina, daughter of Bryan and Pamela Vertina, Plymouth

Team RKRS has participated in several RoboCup competitions in the past, including trips to Japan (2005), China (2008), Singapore (2010), Turkey (2011) and Mexico (2012). This year, Team RKRS will face off against 21 international teams in the Senior category. BSM's team will actually be the only U.S. competitors in the Senior category.

To prepare for the competition, students and faculty members spent months working in the BSM engineering lab testing the design and function of a mobile robot capable of operating in a disaster setting, assisting human rescuers to find and extricate victims quickly.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology—who design the competition—encourage the construction of robots capable of negotiating collapsed structures, establishing communication with victims, delivering food, water and medicine to victims, producing sensor maps of the environment and identifying the best paths to victims.

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