that they become inspired to push
the limits of space exploration,
engineering, and development.RESULTS
2009: SPHERES-Zero-Robotics Pilot
Program
In the fall of 2009, the pilot
competition for SPHERES-Zero-
Robotics included 2 teams from Idaho. Bonners Ferry High School and Coeur d’Alene School
district competed in simulation ground and ISS testing. Neither team was eliminated at any
point. The first SPHERES-Zero-Robotics competition aboard the ISS took place on December 9,
2009 (Saenz- 2011).
2010: HelioPHERES
SPHERES-Zero-Robotics 2010 Challenge: HelioSPHERES saw 24 teams selected from a pool of 48
applicants to participate in the inaugural competition. The finals took place on December 16,
2010, with the LCA team ZeroBotX from Lexington Christian Academy, Massachusetts, winning
the tournament. Team Delta Falmouth from Falmouth High School, Maine, received special
mention for being the only team to demonstrate station docking during the finals. Team
Ganymede from Friendswood High School in Texas also received special recognition for leading
the competition until the finals and setting the path for exemplary strategies. The final
standings were as follows:
- 1 st- LCA Team ZeroBotX, Lexington Christian Academy, Massachusetts
- 2 nd- Delta Falmouth, Falmouth High School, Maine
- 3 rd- SuperNOVA, Prince William County School System, Virginia
- 4 th- A-Team, Cyprus High School, Utah
- 5 th- Ganymede, Friendswood High School, Texas
- 5 th- Glenbrook North, Glenbrook North High School, Illinois
- 5 th- USC SCALE, Upper St. Clair School District, Pennsylvania
- 5 th- Stuy-Naught, Stuyvesant High School, New York
- 9 th- BACON, Charlottesville High School, Virginia
- 9 th- Team Vector, Naples High School, Florida
The impact of crowdsourcing, the process of outsourcing a task to an outside group of people,
was also investigated in conjunction with the SPHERES-Zero-Robotics Challenge 2010.
Crowdsourcing was used to develop the spacecraft software framework used by the students
during the challenge (Nag 2012). Results showed that crowdsourcing increased the quality of
solutions for the software framework (Nag 2012 thesis).