Lindsay Lane robotics team faced with difficult challenge in competition

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Lindsay Lane robotics team gearing up for Oct. 27 competition. Courtesy photo

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October 16, 2012

Lindsay Lane robotics team faced with difficult challenge in competition

Joyce DeWitt For The News Courier The News Courier Tue Oct 16, 2012, 02:00 AM CDT

— Lindsay Lane robotics team members have a difficult problem to solve before this year’s BEST robotics competition.

Instead of making a robot that can move freely around the field, as in past competitions, this year’s rules require the team to create a robot that can climb.

“We all pretty much expected this year’s theme to involve outer space,” said Engineering Director Cecil Bowen. Yet, the fact that we have to “climb” up instead of roll around is what put us all to think.”

For the fifth year in a row, Lindsay Lane Christian Academy will compete in the Tennessee Valley BEST Robotics Competition. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at Calhoun Community College. The theme for the competition is Warp XX. The objective is to create a robot that will efficiently transport cargo on an elevator from Earth to Midway Station.

“In the previous years that we participated in BEST, most of the game objectives included that we move freely around the game field,” Bowen said. “This time, however, our robot is restricted to only vertical movement. Our robot also has to come up with new ways to maneuver objects into tricky locations, such as installing a game piece onto a PVC pipe, or rotating an object into just the right location. All-in-all, our objectives this year are more complex than in the previous years.”

The robotics team’s marketing team is charged with figuring out how to market the team and promote the product and the company.

“Our team will promote our product by designing an 8-by-8-by-8-foot booth that will go along with how our robot will compete in the game,” said Blake Brown, marketing director. “The team also creates brochures, logos, and T-shirts to promote our company’s product.”

This year’s competition kicked off Sept. 15 at Calhoun. At the annual kickoff, the spirit stick award is given to the team that shows the most school spirit. Last year’s winner of the award, Athens Bible School, presented it to LLCA this year.

Lindsay Lane’s robotics team has made a strong showing at previous Tennessee Valley BEST competitions.

Last year, the team won second-place overall and went on to compete in the South’s BEST Regional Competition. South’s BEST was held in the new basketball arena at Auburn University. LLCA placed eighth overall out of 50 teams.