The RoboGriffins, the student robotics team at Academy at Palumbo high school, won first place today in the CoderZ Pro League World Championship, besting team Explosion from School 1329 in Moscow, Russia in the final round.
- Listen to KYW Philly Rising podcast
- Read School District of Philadelphia blog post
- View final round video.
CoderZ Pro League is a virtual robotics tournament that allows teams to program a simulated robot using the Python or Blockly programming language. In the qualifying rounds, teams played their code against an AI opponent. But in the playoffs, teams played their code head to head against another team. View game animation.
This year, with School District of Philadelphia students learning from home, there has been no opportunity for robotics teams to build physical robots or compete in their usual competitions. The CoderZ Pro League provided a platform for students to continue learning programming, game strategy, and teamwork, competing from the safety of their own homes.
RoboGriffins co-captain Sharif Salim, a 12th grade student, has been working toward a big win like this since his freshman year. “It brings me great pride that our team all came together to make this possible,” said Salim. “It was a new experience using CoderZ, and though at first I didn’t have a clue how to use it, after a lot of practice and hard work we made it happen!”
Team co-captain Mingjin Lu, an 11th grade student, was the team’s lead programmer. Lu said “CoderZ gave me a huge opportunity to discover my coding abilities in a time when we can’t meet up in person. I encourage every student interested in STEM to participate in CoderZ.”
Coding projects and engineering design in general require an iterative process of testing and troubleshooting. “For me, CoderZ´s competition had moments of hardship and confusion,” said Zhijun Tian, an 11th grade team member. “But nothing beats the feeling of satisfaction at seeing our code working.”
The team gathered via Google Meet to watch the final rounds together as they were streamed live from the CoderZ broadcast studio in Israel. “Watching the students cheer when we won the finals was so awesome!” said coach Sean Martin. “I’m exceptionally proud of them and the work they put in. Our students are so excited and engaged with STEM and robotics. I’m sure we’ll see a few of them shaping the future of technology in the next 10 years.”
“In spite of the monumental changes our school faced this year,” said coach Lee Burwasser, “the RoboGriffins proved they were able to stay focused and beat the best. Seeing a group of students learn as much as they have in such a short time was a teacher’s dream.”
“I want to congratulate the Palumbo robotics champions,” said Philadelphia City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas. “Whether athletics or the arts or robotics, our young people need an outlet to showcase their passions and skills. This team, by being STEM leaders, are showing Philadelphia students just another venue to reach their potential and make their mark.”
The CoderZ Pro League challenge launched in the fall, and five Philadelphia Robotics Coalition teams advanced to the playoffs. Within our region, the Constitution High School GenBots placed 3rd, Central High School RoboLancers FORTRAN made it to the quarterfinals, and the Parkway Center City Middle College RoboHounds and Central High School RoboLancers COBOL made it to the round of 16. The Palumbo RoboGriffins won the region to advance to (and win) the world championship rounds.