Bottom row LtoR: Sam Wilson, Seth Yeager, Logan Thompson, Noah Lee, Jasher Taylor. Second row LtoR: Keaton Lamb, Jackson Britnell, Joe Lee, Casey Pete, Conner Lamb, Caleb Williams. Third row LtoR: EvaGayle McKune, Lexi LeMay, Lindsay Collins, Ivy Bahro, Kayleigh Gaines, Corbin Meade, Allie Hinkle. Fourth row LtoR: Abby Moss, Kate Hargrave, Lexi Jo Taylor. Fifth row LtoR: Ethan Johnson, Brock Thomas, Jackson Ortner, Grant Ogles, Elijah Goins, Brandon Gaines.

Athens Bible School Trobotics is working toward fulfilling its robot design for the annual Boosting Engineering Science and Technology Robotics, Inc., competition at Calhoun Community College.

ABS competes as one of 11 schools in the Tennessee Valley region preparing for the Nov. 5th event. BEST, a non-profit organization, fosters interest in science, technology, engineering, and math among high schoolers by hosting robotics competitions. This year’s theme centers around the Order Fulfillment and Distribution industry.

“We have our largest team this year, and it’s a tough game theme for the 30th year of BEST, but this young team is energetic and eager to learn and work, so I’m expecting a good showing,” said Head Coach Scott Britnell.

The ABS Trojans robotics team, known as Trobotics, started in 2006 with only six members.

This year, 18 boys and 12 girls worked together to build and market a robot in a thematic competition titled Made2Order.

Team members learn skills in manufacturing, software development, research, testing, marketing, and community outreach. For this competition, the robot controls a secondary robot to fulfill orders efficiently and accurately to gain points.

The secondary robot chooses supplies from storage and places them in the containers. Each round lasts three minutes with the driver and a spotter working together to score as many points as possible. The 2022 BEST Robotics Competition season brings new challenges by representing a future era where semi-autonomous robots can act as humans in a distribution center.

As part of marketing its product, the robot, the team designed a booth as a team exhibit and prepared presentations that include interviews with team members from the different departments. Judges interview team members about the robot design and marketing efforts.

On Game Day, Nov. 5, the team supports their robot drivers at Calhoun Community College at the sports-event style event. Top scorer in categories that include team exhibit and interview, marketing presentation, and engineering notebook, win the BEST award. Later that day, Tennessee Valley BEST Robotics announces winners in an awards ceremony.

Founded in 1993 by Texas Instruments engineers Ted Mahler and Steve Marum, BEST Robotics, Inc, hosted 14 schools including 220 students in that first competition. Since then, it has grown to include more than 800 schools at more than 42 competition sites across the United States.

For more information about the BEST organization or competitions, visit www.bestrobotics.org. Follow and sponsor the ABS Trobotics team via its website, https://www.trobotics.info, or on social media, including Facebook and Instagram. The ABS Trobotics team wants to thank all of the team mentors and sponsors for supporting them as they prepare for the 2022 BEST Robotics Competition.