A girls’ high school robotics team recently demonstrated their creation to students enrolled in the Philadelphia regional undergraduate general engineering degree at Penn State Great Valley.

The teens from the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova explained their development process and intense preparations for a statewide competition next weekend. The team had previously visited the engineering suite at Great Valley, and its coach, Deb Gleeson, said the young women asked repeatedly if they could connect with the Penn State engineering students again.

Kathryn W. Jablokow, associate professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering and director of the multidisciplinary engineering design (MDE) option of the general engineering degree at Great Valley, was impressed with high-schoolers after their first visit.

“They are incredibly bright, articulate, and motivated young women, and you are clearly an amazing coach and mentor to them,” Jablokow wrote in an e-mail to Gleeson, who teaches advanced placement/college physics at the academy.

The girls who comprise Team #5910, The Sparks, compete in the First Tech Challenge competition. They tackle all aspects of building, coding, and CAD (computer-aided design). Recently, they added outreach to their portfolio, teaching robotics at a summer camp and to local Girl Scouts.

Penn State faculty and the students in the MDE program offered feedback and support to the high-schoolers.

One Penn State student asked what sets The Sparks robot apart from the others.

“Everything,” one academy student answered, setting off ripples of laughter.

The general engineering students then introduced the high-schoolers to StormBot. They developed StormBot, an autonomous robot that inspects stormwater pipes, at the request of nearby Horsham Township. The Penn State project saved the municipality about $60,000 since Horsham officials didn’t have to purchase a robot.