Students from Athens Bible School will be among the more than 1,000 middle and high school students, teachers and parents on the campus of Calhoun Community College today to officially kick-off the Tennessee Valley Boosting Engineering Science and Technology robotics competition.
Presented by Auburn University and Calhoun, the competition begins at 10 a.m. in Calhoun’s Kelley Gym.
Calhoun has been selected as one of three sites around the state to host the competition. During Saturday’s kick-off event, teams from the 18 competing schools will receive their kits of equipment and materials for building their robots as well as see the unveiling of this year’s playing field, which is kept a secret until Kick Off Day. This year’s game is called “2021: A Robot Odyssey” and is based upon NASA’s Mars Rover Project.
Kits for building the competition robots consist of plywood and a box filled with items such as PVC pipe, screws and other hardware, an irrigation valve cover, piano wire, an aluminum paint grid, a bicycle inner tube, and a micro-energy chain system. Teams have six weeks to design a functioning machine that can perform certain specific tasks in three minutes during the actual competition, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 6 at Calhoun.
According to local competition coordinator Dr. Sue Mitchell, a member of
Calhoun’s Computer Information Systems faculty, the BEST competition has been described as being like a basketball game, chess match and science fair all rolled into one day, with cheerleaders, mascots, pep bands, and wildly cheering adults and kids mixed in.
“There is no entry fee for schools and no limit to the number of students who may participate,” said Mitchell. “All equipment and materials used to build and run the robots are provided by Toyota Manufacturing, which has been the program’s sponsor since it began in 2003.”
“We started the BEST program at Auburn in 2001 to help address the critical shortage of engineers and scientists the U.S. is now facing,” says George Blanks, Director of K-12 Engineering Outreach for the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. “Alabama, like other states, is simply not educating enough engineers to fill jobs that will be open as the baby boomer generation retires. In addition, many new technology-based industries are locating in the state. To ensure economic prosperity into the future, the state must grow its technologically literate workforce.”
Area schools scheduled to participate in this year’s competition include Austin high School; Albertville City; Bob Jones High School; Decatur High School; Gadsden High School; Holly Pond High School; Homewood High School; Hoover Freshman Center; Hoover High School; Mountain Brook Junior High; NCLC Robotics; Oak Mountain High School; Priceville High School; Riverside Christian Academy; Spain Park High School; Sparkman High School; and Vestavia Hills High School.
Those interested can learn more about BEST can go to www.bestinc.org. Schools interested in participating and industries that would like to mentor a team can contact George Blanks at (334) 844-5759 or blankgw@eng.auburn.edu or Sue Mitchell at (256) 306-2655 or sue@calhoun.edu.
Local News
ABS to participate in robotics competition
- Local News
-
- Holiday closings
-
Memorial Day ceremony slated for Monday
The event, presented by American Legion Post 49 with assistance from the Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Limestone County Event Center on Pryor Street.
-
Tornado artifacts sought for exhibit
Scientists at the National Weather Service in Huntsville are asking Limestone County residents to contribute to a historical and educational display about the tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011.
-
Schools chief is 'ecstatic' over job
Board members cited Sisk’s experience in handling personnel issues, his working for a large school system, his outgoing personality and his willingness to help obtain money to buy laptop computers for students as evidence of his promise.
-
'Significant' local arrests net drugs, cash
Limestone County deputies made what Sheriff Mike Blakely termed “significant arrests” with a Friday evening drug bust of a house at 817 Westmoreland Street.
-
BREAKING: Reward offered in Limestone burglary
-
MORE STORIES: Click LOCAL NEWS bar at top left
Click "Local News" bar at top left for more stories
-
Bills in meth trash lead to arrest
Trash included the portions of phone and cable bills that led investigators to the address of 43-year-old Larry M. Mason of Tuscumbia.
-
Space Camp celebrating 30th anniversary
The center is hosting a weekend of family-friendly activities and a reunion of Space Camp alumni on June 15.
-
Community colleges seeing declining enrollment
American Association of Community Colleges spokeswoman Norma Kent says changes in the economy are to blame.
- More Local News Headlines
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament
Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought
Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington
Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance
NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted
Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
