Team MAI consisted of 23 pupils in 2025/2026. We split up into several cooperation divisions in order to be able to work not only on one robotics project. As in the previous year, the fous was primarily on consolidating praticipation in existing competitions and training the rookies in our team in 2025/2026.
This year, we mainly worked on the following projects:
- JuniorING: We built a covered arena with a sophisticated seeting system, the „Haus von Fledermaus“.
- Schüler bauen Roboter: We first tried to build a Mugato robot. After running into several major problems, we switched to building a three-wheeled robot with oversized front wheels, which performed relatively well in testing. Unfortunately, we couldn’t attend the finals ourselves because we were stranded in London, UK, due to an airline strike. We were there working on another project, namely…
- Student Robotics: “The neutral zone” turned out to be a much more difficult challenge than we had originally anticipated. From the very beginning, we wanted to be able to collect the tokens on the raised platform in the center of the arena. We spent hours and hours discussing possible solutions. Time and again, we had to reject the proposals because they failed due to a wide variety of problems. Finally, we had a brilliant idea and were able to develop a robot design that, with just a few actuators (three servo motors for the tokens on the platform, two servo motors for the tokens on the floor), was capable of collecting the tokens. Furthermore, the image recognition for detecting the tokens worked flawlessly, ensuring that the approached the tokens perfectly. We were all the more delighted to receive the jury’s Honorable Mention for our simple technical design and, in particular, first place in the overall competition.
- Eurobot: We participated in this year’s Eurobot with a completely new team, consisting primarily of ninth- and tenth-grade students. These students had no prior experience with robotics projects. They were supported by three twelfth-grade students who helped with technical questions. We are therefore particularly proud that this rookie team won second place at the German preliminary round in Dresden. Furthermore, the team was able to further improve its driving platform and, with the help of precise navigation, achieved a remarkable 15th place in France at the international finals against university teams from around the world.
- GMI’s 25th Anniversary – 25 math facts: We put a lot of work into compiling 25 math facts about our school, such as: How many minutes of music have been played at concerts so far? What total distance have all students covered inside the school building? Or how many pigs have been eaten by the school community based solely on the meat consumed at the snack bar? We had a lot of fun and discovered many crazy things. These findings will be beautifully presented in an exhibition for the school’s 25th-anniversary celebrations.
- GMI’s 25th Aniversary – additional projects: For the anniversary event, we build a robot that can play a melodica. We’ll be using it to showcase our incredible musical talent. 😉 In addition, the popular but aging Useless Box is getting a complete overhaul for the anniversary event.
Projects like these would not be possible without the ongoing and tremendous support of many other people: Thank you to all our parents, sisters and brothers, patrons and friends that supported us during that season! ♥♥♥