Battle Of The Robots Saturday

November 1, 2013

Student-constructed robots will face off to be best of the BEST as young scientists compete against each other Saturday at the University of West Florida Field House.

The sixth annual Emerald Coast BEST Robotics middle and high school competition is sponsored by Gulf Power Company. The event will pit teams from 13 Northwest Florida schools — including Tate and West Florida high schools –  in head-to-head competition to teach teamwork, problem-solving, project management and pride in task completion.

BEST Robotics Inc. is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization whose mission is to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science, and technology through participation in a sports-like, science and engineering-based robotics competition.

“Gulf Power supports the annual competition because it provides local students the opportunity to learn practical engineering, science and math skills, which are critical for their future,” said Jeff Rogers, Gulf Power spokesperson.

Gulf Power has recently ramped up efforts to help increase the availability of skilled technicians in Northwest Florida by helping to form the Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council earlier this year. The council will help local manufacturing companies work together to compete in a global marketplace with a special emphasis on having a skilled workforce.

“Events like the BEST Robotics competition also help promote interest in high-quality manufacturing careers down the line for these students,” said Rogers.

Each student team has six weeks to design and build a remote-controlled robot to solve a problem or perform a specific function. The year’s theme, Gatekeeper 2013, refers to a conceived challenge of constructing a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to upgrade BEST robot, Squeaky, to Squeaky 2.0. The goal for the students is to design a prototype robot to construct a CPU over the course of three fabrication stages.

Each team is judged on its robot performance, marketing presentation, team exhibit, technical notebook and spirit and sportsmanship. The 13 schools from across Northwest Florida will participate in the University of West Florida Emerald Coast BEST hub with the top schools advancing to regional competition at Auburn University.

Area schools have been competing in BEST since 2004, when Gulf Power sponsored eight local teams to compete in the BEST hub in Mobile, Ala. The funding of hub operations depends entirely on corporate and individual sponsorships. Materials kits to build the robots are provided to the teams by the hub. No fees are paid by students or schools participating in BEST robotics.

2013 Teams:

  • Arnold High School
  • Avalon Middle School
  • Bethlehem School
  • Jinks Middle School
  • Milton High School
  • Newpoint Pensacola High
  • Pine Forest High School
  • Seaside Neighborhood
  • Sims Middle School
  • Tate High School
  • West Florida High School
  • Woodham Middle School
  • Woodlawn Beach Middle School

Pictured: Previous robotics competitions at the University of West Florida. File photos, click to enlarge.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News