During the Spring 2009 semester, Tau Alpha Pi in conjunction with Krisys Robotic Innovations, held its first annual Autonomous Robot Kompetition, or simply the ARK.  It was held on February 21st during Aggieland Saturday on the top floor of the Zachry Engineering building.  The competition was meant to help engage high school students in an event that would give them an opportunity to do some real engineering work.  It involved the students building a robot kit that could be as customizable as they wanted as well as programming their robot to navigate a maze completely on its own.  Two high schools competed in this year’s ARK, including two teams from Texas A&M Consolidated as well as one team from Hightower high school out of Missouri City.  The students were graded in three portions: design, engineering, and maze navigation.  The design portion consisted of how well designed their robot was, from both a functional and creative standpoint.  The engineering portion consisted of how well each team understood the inner workings of their robot, such as how fast it could travel, how much power it consumes, etc.  Finally, the maze navigation portion involved how well their robot could navigate the maze, and which team’s robot could get through the fastest.  In the end, one of the teams from Texas A&M Consolidated came out victorious.  Being the first time Tau Alpha Pi has put on such an event, it could not have gone better.  Plans for next year’s ARK are already underway, and workshops are planned for the summer so that future teams can get a head start on understanding how to design and implement their robot in the competition.

Tau Alpha Pi also held its induction ceremony on April 16th at the University Club restaurant at the top of Rudder tower.  This semester’s guest speaker was Mr. David Clark, President of OpenTech Control and Security Solutions, a building automation company out of Houston.  Tau Alpha Pi welcomed three new members this semester: Ms. Peggy Liska from EET, Mr. Troy Kensinger from EET, and Mr. Daniel Wagner from EET. 

Finally, this semester will be the last for current president, Archie Wilson, vice-president, Chris Landry, and treasurer, Jacob MacElroy as they will be graduating in May.  The newly elected officials include: President, Troy Kensinger and Vice-President, Joshua Kirksey.  Mr. Kensinger’s projected graduation date is Fall 2010 and Mr. Kirksey’s is Spring 2010. Tau Alpha Pi has the utmost confidence that these two individuals will help better the organization for the future.